#haha a rare occasion where I just talk

[madlad-link]

happy Sunday! Here’s a fun fact! Did you know that Florida is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles live in the same ecosystem? Crocodiles are only really in the Everglades here, so don’t worry, you won’t be running into a crocodile in the nearby lake. You’ll definitely find gators though! Don’t swim in lakes guys.

Do you know how to tell the difference between a gator and a croc?

Surprisingly a lot of people don’t know how to quickly tell the difference between these two big fellas. For one, crocodiles are a more brown color, while alligators are a dark black, almost purpley color. Two, a super easy way to tell the difference is in the animal’s head. Alligators have a wide, shovel shaped head, with teeth from their top jaw being the only teeth that are shown. Crocodiles have a thin, narrow head with a V shaped nose. You can clearly see teeth from both their top and bottom jaw, and generally look just a little more gnarly than gators.

now, if you look at a crocodile, do you think that animal would be able to run? No? Well you’d be right! Crocodiles have a wide stance, which really is not ideal if you’re trying to lug that big of a body around on land. Their top speed reaches about 20mph on land, which, yknow. Just don’t bother them.

You look at a gator, do you think they can run? No? Well guess what, when alligators stand up, their legs are under their bodies instead of out to the side. Alligators can run, albeit for a short time, at speeds up to 35mph.

with a few differences covered I just wanna close this little infodump with, no, you’re not going to come across crocodiles often. You absolutely will see alligators in Florida, no matter where you are. I know I just talked about the fact that the swamp puppies will almost definitely catch you if you try to outrun them, but here’s the thing. Alligators really don’t want anything to do with you. Most times, they’re more afraid of you, and will just slide back into the water if they feel threatened. Just respect their space and you’ll be totally fine! I’m so grateful that we live in one of the few places with these literal living dinosaurs swimming around all over the place.

[floatingonapaintedsky]

I don't know I just find Chronos & Nyx, Nyx & Hypnos, and Nyx & Eris' relationships to be very good examples of how caring about someone or loving them isn't always enough to have a strong relationship with them. Because sometimes the way you approach things and the standards you put in place does more to deteriorate your relationship than it does to support the other person's growth; even when you're doing what you think is in everyone's best interest.

[saltnsugarbear]

I love when we get freaky on camera (18+)

summary: Lip has a gift he wants to share on stream!

title from: "Cyber Sex" by Doja Cat

word count: 1.4k

content warnings: MDNI!!! rabbit vibrator makes a comeback (haha), so like slight mommy kink but in the chat not from Lip or reader, afab reader genitalia, mentions of a pocket pussy/fleshlight,

divider by @strangergraphics

You are going to hell. Okay, maybe hell is a bit extreme. But you are definitely fucked.

You told yourself you would stop tuning in to Lip's streams. You promised yourself.

However, you are... Not the strongest when it came to him. It didn't help you had to see him at work every day, and it really didn't help that, on the rare occasion, he talked to you with the same tone he used on stream. The same tone when he was teasing his chat about how they were so needy.

You wasted little time getting your computer set up five minutes before Lip went live. You had gotten used to his schedule by now, 10pm three times a week. You don't know how he did it or where he hosted these streams three nights a week when he still lived with all his siblings, but you weren't going to complain.

This one started the same as usual, Lip spent the first five to ten minutes catching up and palming himself over his boxers. You followed your own routine, turning on your vibrator and using it to tease yourself first.

"Got a few uh-" Lip huffs slightly, reaching off screen to grab something. "Got a few things gifted this week. Wanted t'use them tonight.."

What Lip brings onto camera makes you inhale sharply, bucking up into your vibrator. In his hands, he's got... Well, you're not entirely sure, eyes flitting around the screen, taking in his hands and his arms and his chest.

"Been lookin' at this one lately, so uh..." He huffs softly. "Thanks for the uh... Hah well the pocket pussy.."

You can tell by the tone in his voice that he rolled his eyes at the name. You have the luxury of knowing what he looks like, being able to guess what he looks like when he...

Lip ducks so the lower part of his face is on screen, his mouth, and his nose captured just before you could see his eyes. All you can do is watch when he opens his mouth, spitting onto the toy. You whine softly, jutting your hips to start slipping the toy into your entrance.

On screen, Lip removes one of his hands from the toy, slipping two fingers into his mouth. The chat box on the side is going wild, pinging rapidly with donations. Your eye catches on a few of them; so fucking hot, take mommy's fingers like a good boy, please just fuck it already...

When he removes his fingers, he spits on the toy again before he starts spreading his saliva along the slit of the toy. The slick sound as he slips his finger into the toy has you pushing the tip of the rabbit dildo farther into you. The initial stretch is always uncomfortable, but it's quickly forgotten once the toy is all the way in. Once it's there, you don't hesitate to start the actual rabbit part of the vibrator, watching as Lip adds a second finger into the toy.

He's fingering it for show, and it's damn near sinful. He doesn't need to fuck the toy with his fingers, he knows this and you know this and the fucking chat probably knows this. But the way he's thrusting two fingers in slowly is driving you wild.

The sound of him fucking the toy is pure filth. At this point, your toy is doing all the work as you lay and watch. Rutting your hips up into the rabbit to hit just right.

You've lost count of how many times you've come around the vibrator, turning off the rabbit when the overstimulation becomes painful but leaving it buzzing inside of you still. The most work your hand is doing is trying to adjust the position of the toy, twisting it this way and that way in hopes of hitting the right spot.

"Think this'll be enough?" Lip asks. He doesn't really expect an answer, but he always asks anyway. You watch as Lip stands up, slipping off his boxers and letting his cock spring free.

The sight always makes your jaw drop, exhaling softly and rutting your hips up into the rabbit. You watch as he settles back down, dick standing at attention for the stream to see. Lip spits into his hand, taking his saliva and gripping himself at the base. He works the spit over all of him, giving his cock a few extra tugs before he spits on the toy again. Whatever he sees at the slit makes him sigh heavily.

"Fuck- Don't think- Don't think y're gonna be able t'take it-" Lip hasn't even started trying to breach the entrance of the toy. His head is lined up against the entrance as he rubs it along the slit gently.

Watching him sink into the toy slowly feels like a religious experience. You want to replay that moment over and over again for as long as you can. The way he groans as he slides in does little to tame your thoughts, his head pokes out of the end of it when he reaches the hilt.

His breathing sounds ragged as he pauses. You can see the way his arm is shaking slightly with what you assume to be self restraint.

"Fuck-" He swears, head dropping so his nose is in frame. Lip's mouth is open as he tries to catch his breath at the feeling.

"So fuckin- so fuckin tight.." He grunts, bucking his hips slightly.

You are so fucked.

Your walls contract hard around the fake dick inside of you, causing the rabbit to tap against your clit making you whine softly.

Lip pulls out of the toy, groaning as he does so. You watch him adjust his hand, covering the open end of the toy before he slides back in.

"Shit- So- Fuck-" He breathes out heavily. You want so badly to be the thing he's fucking into, in this moment you'd say fuck it and even let him film while he's fucking you.

You're not sure what possesses you, but you're patting around your bed for your phone. When your hand hits the hard plastic, you grab your phone quickly, unlock it and open your messages, and look for your conversation with Lip. Your hands are shakey as you type.

You: Busy?

If you type anything else, you might give yourself away. You watch the stream closely. You've never really messaged Lip unless it was to get something to Fiona after her phone died.

Lip's head turns, his chest heaving in an attempt to catch his breath.

"Fuck.." He mutters softly, and you must have imagined the way his hips buck up slightly. One of his hands slips away from its grip on the toy, and within seconds, you get a response.

Lip: No

Lip: Why?

It's such a blatant lie, but there's no way you'd know if you hadn't already found his stream. So you play along.

You: Looking to score

You: A pre roll. Looking for a pre roll, should have specified

Lip huffs softly on camera, starting his movements again as he fucks into the toy.

Lip: No way you'd be able to buy from me with what we get paid

You can hear him pick up his pace, bringing his other hand to help move the toy along his shaft.

You: I could pay another way?

Lip groans in your headphones, and you can't help the way you buck into the toy still buzzing inside of you.

Lip: Another way?

You: Whatever you want

"Shit-" Lip grunts. "Shit, shit.."

You can see his release seeping out of the toy, covering his palm and creating a ring around the base of him. Your walls contract around your toy at the sight, inhaling sharply.

Lip ends the stream abruptly, not staying to clean up or do any of his other Saturday night stream routine.

Lip: Whatever I want?

Lip: That covers a lot of area

You huff, sitting up to pull the toy out of you. You message him quickly before you start cleaning yourself up.

You: Within reason

You're slipping on your underwear when your phone pings with his response.

Lip: I think I can come up with a few ideas

Lip: Meet at Patsy's?

You: Yeah

You: Don't come up with any dirty ideas

You wouldn't mind if he did choose a dirty idea, but you're not going to risk your relationship at work by saying that. Your phone pings with the last message he sends you for the night.

Lip: ;)

[annymation]

Reimagining the characters in Wish

(Part 3- Star/Aster)

ITS THE MOMENT WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!

HERE COMES THE BOYYYYY!!!

Ahem… so yeah welcome to part 3

If you haven’t seen them yet, here’s the links for part 1 and part 2 where I talk about how I’d rewrite Asha and the villains respectively.

Star may be the most challenging character to reimagine since… All I have is the personality displayed on the Star we DID get, a song we all collectively headcanon as Asha x Star love song (At All Cost Demo), and my imagination… In a way that just makes things more fun too.

Now remember there’s no definitive version of this character, he never came true so there’s limitless ways we can interpret him.

Some may imagine him mute, some may imagine him as a wacky character like the genie, others may imagine him more soft spoken like the blue fairy, some may imagine him as Asha’s love interest while others may prefer them as just friends, or even have him look like her grandfather, there are no wrong answers.

So here’s how I imagine him to be like:

The Star 💫

What’s a Wishing Star?

- Before we start talking about our star boy, I think it’s important we establish what a wishing star even is, so let’s begin.

-Star is an entity from another plane of existence, a wishing star, a being whose only purpose is to listen to the wishes from mortals that can see him and other wishing stars through their night skies. They listen to the wishes from mortals and provide some guidance in subtle ways.

- A wishing star is born, or rather, gains consciousness, once someone looks to them and makes a wish from the bottom of their hearts, once the star receives their first ever wish they are no longer just a celestial body of gas, they become a new wishing star, they gain a purpose, and develop their minds just like how a human would.

- As the years pass the star becomes more wise, more equipped to help the person who wished upon them for the first time.

- For a wishing star to grow up it may take a while, that’s why most people wish upon bigger ones who are already fully developed and clever enough to know exactly how to help.

- It’s not a wishing star’s job to GRANT a wish immediately, in fact, they’re incapable of doing that, their magic can only go as far as the hope and perseverance that resides in their wishmaker’s heart.

- Things that the mortal would consider just luck could actually be the works of a wishing star putting them in the right path.

- If the person loses hope in their dream then there isn’t anything the star can do, but if they remain determined then the star can help them go far.

- So a wishing star job is to just… stay in the sky, look down upon their wishmakers, give some subtle magic intervention here and there…

-That is, when they’re wished upon at all, otherwise they just stay there doing nothing.

- However… In some rare occasions, wishing stars can do a lot more than just give a subtle magic intervention from the distance. Sometimes, when someone truly well intentioned makes a wish with all their heart… The wishing star gets the power to do some extraordinary things.

Personality

- Star, or Aster as I’ll be calling him in this rewrite, which is a non-binary name meaning “star”. I’ll be referring to them with (He/they) pronouns.

- Aster is a very young and inexperienced wishing star, in fact, counting with Asha’s wish, Star only got TWO wishes in their whole life. And he’s still working on granting that first wish he ever got 18 years ago.

(Haha I’m sure that’s not foreshadowing for something really sad)

- Because of that he’s often treated by the other stars as sort of a younger sibling or a little kid.

- I think I should just get this info out now: Aster is NOT the north star, that big, bright and iconic star we know from the Disney movies, nope, Aster is actually a small itty bitty little star that you can barely see, that kind of star you probably wouldn’t pick to wish upon, most choose the brightests and bigger ones.

- So who’s that big, bright and iconic star? Well, in the beginning of our story… That star doesn’t exist, like, it’s literally absent from the sky… After all, we're seeing that star's origin story :)

- We’ll get to that when we get to that, back to Aster tho.

- Aster is a lot different from the other wishing stars, while they’re these benevolent and wise entities, Aster is more of a naive and curious teen who’s fascinated with the world below them.

- No one wishes upon him EVER so he gets a lot of free time to just watch humans do human things and animals do animal things, and he loves it.

(He’s like Ariel and Quasimodo lmao)

- When he gets to earth he’s very excited to help Asha, showing appreciation for her wishing upon him through a lot of physical contact, often hugging her and holding her hand without him even noticing. (Asha at first is confused but she gets used to this behavior pretty quick)

- Although Aster is naive and overly excited they’re no fool, he can be very clever and creative when it’s necessary.

- He’s also not a fish out of water like Ariel when he’s on earth, they understands human customs and how things work, since he watched everything from the sky… Although nevertheless they’re delighted to see everything up close.

- He may be smart, but at first, they don’t really know how to guide Asha in the right path to make her wish come true, after all he’s a very inexperienced wishing star, and freeing a kingdom from an evil sorcerer king and queen is no easy task.

- But regardless he doesn’t let his own insecurities get to him, and remains optimistic they’ll figure it out, together.

His personality is reminiscent to Disney guys such as: Quasimodo, Peter Pan, Prince Philip (yes really, rewatch Sleeping Beauty, that boy has a lot of personality), Alladin and Hercules.

Main Traits:

- Optimistic and kind

- Naïve

- Protective

- Curious

- Energetic

- Secretly very insecure

Powers

I think it’s important to establish his abilities before we get to his backstory and all that jazz.

What he CAN’T do

Just like how Movie Asha did in her job interview, let’s get his weaknesses out of the way first.

- Sooo… don’t get mad but… Star won’t be a shapeshifter in my version. I don’t want him to feel too much like Maui or the genie. So he’ll stay in the shape of a princely looking boy the whole way through.

- He can’t teleport, would make things too easy, also there’s a plot reason I’ll explain later.

- Can’t materialize real things out of thin air, only things made of star dust so they don’t really have any utility other than to create fun visuals during music numbers or when he’s explaining stuff.

- Can’t hurt anyone, this one is VERY IMPORTANT for plot reasons I’ll talk about later on.

- Can’t make a wish come true with the snap of his fingers, he’s a star, not a genie.

Weakness: Dark Magic, hopelessness and Asha getting hurt.

What he CAN do

- Stretch and re-shape his body. He may not turn into animals but his body can regenerate and squash and stretch around (haha get it? Like the animation term), like he’s made of star dust. Have this piece of concept art as an example:

- He can Fly and make other people and objects fly too

- Unlock doors, may seem random now but I’ll explain in a minute.

- Bring plants to life, and make them grow bigger, and I mean like “make a flower the size of a house” bigger.

- Make animals talk, but the animals only keep talking IF they so desire, if that’s not something they wish for then the magic fades away with time.

- Tho he naturally understands animals and any other living thing in their own languages.

- He can feel other people’s wishes, not all the time tho, he has to make a conscious effort to see what’s that person’s deepest desire.

- His body is warm like a small sun, so he can give warm hugs… that’s a power, yes.

- Aster may not teleport, but they can move really REALLY fast

- Uncorrupt wish bubbles, I mentioned in part 2 that Magnifico twisted most the people's wishes, those wishes that are changed are called “Corrupted wishes”, Aster can change those wishes back to what they originally were.

- Create dreams, is that too much like the sandman from rise of the guardians?… Im still keeping it.

-Get inside drawings, This is just for a scene I imagine Aster shrinking and walking around inside Asha's sketch book, I think that's cute.

- Make a human disguise, I'll elaborate more on this when we get to talk about his design.

- He can grant wishes “but Anny you just said earlier he can’t—“ yes yes I know… he just grants them in his own unique way.

What gives him strength: Hopes and dreams

(Undertale reference? More likely than you think)

A wishing star purpose is to serve as a guide, that provides some magic intervention so that the wishmaker has the means to get to their goal.

As such, the stronger Asha’s hope, perseverance and passions are, the stronger and more limitless Star’s magic becomes. Like his magic abilities are charged up by Asha’s beliefs, the more she wants something, the more he can do for her.

Now, let’s talk about how Aster and other wishing stars that come to earth function, and to do that, we gotta go waaaaay back to another wish granting character in the Disney catalog.

The Blue Fairy- What can we learn from her?

- We all know the blue fairy from Pinocchio, she is in a way the closest thing we have in the Disney canon that resembles the concept of Star, so I’m considering them as both the same kind of entity, they’re both wishing stars.

(not the same character tho, and I’ll get to that soon don’t you worry)

- You would think a character we see so little about doesn’t provide a lot of context, but she actually gives us a pretty good idea about what wishing stars can and can’t do.

- First thing she says when arriving is:

“Good Geppetto, you have given so much happiness to others. You deserve to have your wish come true.”

- From that, we can interpret that wishing stars only assume a human form and help those who are truly pure of heart and have spread kindness to others. Like Asha.

- Geppetto wished for Pinocchio to be a real boy, a human boy, but the blue fairy couldn’t grant that wish, because the only one who could make himself a real boy was Pinocchio himself.

“To make Geppetto’s wish come true will be enterely up to you. Prove yourself brave, truthful and unselfish, and someday you will be a real boy"

- So, am I saying that Aster will just fly up to Asha and say “it’s all up to you to save your people… GOOD LUCK! 😊” sparkle some magic on her and leave?

- Well no although that would be funny, he’s not gonna do that, in fact, Aster will act way differently compared to the Blue Fairy.

- Although Aster can’t immediately make the people of Rosas “Have something more than this” he will do everything in his power to help Asha with anything she needs, and stay by her side the whole way through… Not at all what the Blue Fairy did.

- Lets say the Blue Fairy did exactly what a wishing star is supposed to do.

-She didn’t let herself be seen by anyone except Pinocchio and Jimminy Cricket, she only gave Pinocchio a few instructions and then left it all up to him, and even then when she went a bit beyond that to inform him that Geppetto was inside a whale she did so by sending a note… Almost like she couldn’t go back again to tell him personally… Interesting huh?

(I know the reason is because the animators would lose their minds if they had to draw that sparkly effect on her dress a third time but let’s pretend there’s more to it okay?)

- So we have her being the best role model of a wishing star… and then we have Aster...

-Doesn’t even know where to begin with helping Asha, chooses to stay on earth more than a day instead of just giving cryptic advice and leaving, was seen by multiple people aside from just Asha and Valentino, and worse of all, falls in love with his wish maker… yeah dude broke several rule… And the other stars ain’t happy about that.

- You could say the scale of Geppetto’s wish and Asha’s wish are way different, one just wants a son and the other wants to defeat two evil monarchs.

-But the stars don’t see it that way, to them every wish should be treated equally and it’s not their purpose to mingle with humans and change the course of their history.

- So you see, while the Blue Fairy could go back to the sky and then reappear anywhere she wanted… Aster won’t have that privilege.

-If he goes back to the sky he’s not coming back down, because the other stars won’t allow it, not after he broke their rules.

- Aster knows all that, because he can hear them talking to him, warning him to stop and go back to the sky… Aster keeps that information a secret from Asha for as long as they can…

- He knows after he’s done helping Asha they’ll never see each other again, but that’s fine, he’s willing to break every rule to help her…

- Oh also there’s a scene in Pinocchio where the Blue Fairy opens a lock to free Pinocchio from a cage… that’s why I said Aster can unlock doors… okay moving on to our boy backstory.

Backstory

Yup, Aster has a backstory. And it all started in one fateful night:

An elderly man was taking a walk, carrying his granddaughter in his arms, she was just a few weeks old, but he couldn’t wait to show her how beautiful the stars looked that night.

He sat with her on a thick tree branch, and even though she couldn’t understand him, he was so happy telling her the names of each constellation.

In that moment, it seemed like everything was perfect.

But then that moment ended… He heard screams, and smelled smoke.

The elderly man ran back to his home, only to find it completely engulfed in a fire.

His granddaughter was now crying in his arms as he watched some neighbors trying to put down the fire, but to no avail.

His son and daughter-in-law were in there, he lost them both in an instant, the pain he felt in that moment was immeasurable.

In that moment of sorrow all he could do was look up, between the thick smoke he saw it… a small star.

With all his heart, Sabino wished upon it

“I wish my dear granddaughter, Asha, never feel such pain and sadness as I’m feeling in this moment”

A new wishing star was born.

Those words were the first thing Aster ever heard, it took a few years for him to even know what they meant, but as Asha and him grew older, he started to understand them.

He tried his best to make Asha as happy as she could be with the little that he was allowed to do.

Sometimes giving her inspiration for her drawings, other times sending her nice dreams after a bad day.

But he felt like he was failing her, no matter what he did, Asha would still go through sad times… Specially after her grandfather passed away.

Aster treasured every happy moment that he saw Asha experience, her making new friends, getting better with her drawings, dancing during wish ceremonies. Aster would shine brighter every time she was happy.

Point is: They were connected the whole time, and Aster already knew Asha even way before she wished upon him.

To be clear he wouldn’t just stay up there looking at Asha all day, he was also interested on everything else on earth in general.

But then, we have Asha’s 18th birthday, the day she had to give away her wish.

Aster knew what was really going on in Rosas, about what happened to most of the people’s wishes, and although that also saddened the other stars they all agreed they couldn't intervene unless someone from Rosas wished for their help.

So you can imagine how happy Aster was when Asha wished upon HIM, of all the stars, she looked at him and asked for his help! What are the chances?

If you could listen to them, you’d hear all the stars collectively whisper “oh…this might not end well…” as Aster flies down to earth going "YYYYYPIIIEEEEEEE!!!"

A Star Who Wishes To Be Human

- I’ve made it very clear that Aster is different from the other stars, for the reason that he’s so young and so fascinated with life on earth.

- But there’s more than that, see, I mentioned before Aster can’t hurt anyone, and that’s not because he’s some holier-than-thou pacifist, it’s because his magic literally CAN’T hurt living beings.

- Because his magic is made of ✨hopes✨ and ✨kindness✨ and ✨everything nice✨, so even if they literally make a sword with his star dust, all it’ll do is give Magnifico some tickles.

- And Aster hates that.

- He wishes he could be more useful to Asha… wait, “wishes”?

- That’s silly, a star is not supposed to “wish” for anything, to have wants, that’s a human thing... And yet here he is wanting to protect Asha in any way possible.

- This drive to protect Asha runs even deeper than just the wish he received from her grandfather or the wish she made, Aster feels as if it's a wish that comes within him.

- Aster would question why they feels this way, is it love? Can’t be that right? A star can’t fall in love…

- The same way a star can’t taste food, or smell the flowers, or feel temperature…

- But Aster wishes they could, Aster wishes he knew what food tasted like, what was the smell of the flowers and the morning dew, but most of all… Aster wished he could feel Asha’s warmth, the same way she feels when they embraced.

- This would be Aster internal conflict for most of the movie. They’d realize that they can’t be with Asha forever, but Aster wanted to at least confess his feelings before they went to enact their plan to defeat the king and queen, that’s when we’d get “At All Cost”.

- Soooo a bit of a spoiler to this rewrite, I’m basically telling a story all out of order at this point, but here goes, Aster does become human by the end, after the king and queen are defeated, the stars realize that punishing Aster for breaking their rules wouldn’t be fair after he did so much good, and also because some of them can’t stand him so they decide “hey, let’s leave him there” and just ask him to return his magic back to the sky.

- Once Aster accepts, his magic would be turned into a brand new star, that shines brighter than all the others, because it carries all the magic that Aster accumulated by helping Asha and all of Rosas. And thus we’d get an origin story for THE wishing star.

Design

Aster has brown skin, sparkly freckles and blond hair that shines and moves almost like a candle.

He dresses up as a prince, with the classic cape we see in classic princes like in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.

They choose that form because he recalls that Asha used to read a lot about princes that would help princesses in need, so he thinks it's fitting to at least looks like one to help Asha

"But I'm not a princess"

"I know, you're just pretty like one!"

A itty bitty detail I didn't mention until now: Aster would be hand drawn animated, while everything else would be 3D, and his animation would change as the movie progressed.

By change I mean he'd start in a very sketchy looking animation, like it's being drawn very frantically to reflect how excited he is to help Asha, but as the movie progresses he'd be drawn with more detail and with more fluid movements.

This would serve to both represent his character development, showing him becoming more mature and learning what it means to be human, and also a reference to how Disney's animation evolved over the years.

He can make a human disguise, as I mentioned earlier, but that would require him to keep his magic hidden somewhere, in this case, a round stone that holds his cape together on his chest.

Once his magic was all kept inside this stone he'd turn into a 3D animated character, however his movements wouldn't feel... quite right, like he'd be animated in a different frame-rate compared to everyone else, so you could tell he was struggling to make himself move like a human, and people would be able to tell there was something off about him.

In the end when he turned into a human for real he'd become 3D animated with the right frame-rate, and his hair would no longer be blonde, but rather brown, like his eyebrows (Tangled reference? yup)

Final Thoughts

This was DEFINITELY the hardest one to translate my thoughts into words! My gosh this took so long to write.

Don't know if you could tell but I'm very passionate about this scrapped idea of a human looking star falling in love with our protagonist, and no it's not just for the ✨aesthetic✨.

I don't think it's wise to throw a romance when writing a story just because you feel like it, a romance needs to progress both the story and the characters involved, think of it like how Naveen learned with Tiana the importance of working hard, while in turn showing her that life can also be fun. They complete each other, and I want the same for Asha and Aster.

Asha needs to learn that she shouldn't feel guilty for wishing more for herself, she worries too much about others and what others may think of her that she forgets her own self worth, and Aster shows her that she not only can wish for things for herself, but she can also accomplish anything she sets her mind to. From becoming an amazing artist that can give movement to her drawings to the leader of a rebellion against two evil monarchs, she can do it all.

Meanwhile, Aster needs to learn that what Asha's grandfather wished upon him is an impossible task, for Asha to always be happy, that's impossible, because sadness is a part of life, its a part of being human, and that's what he learns, what it means to be human, to fail, get up and try again. As a wishing star Aster always knew that humans had to fail a bunch of times before having their wishes granted but he could never imagine how hard that actually was, and Asha's perseverance even with all odds against her is what makes him love her even more.

I talked a lot about why Aster loves Asha, so I should probably mention what Asha sees in him too. Asha get's a lot of laughs from Aster's innocent reactions to natural things on earth, like how dazzled he is seeing the sun rise for the first time, how he just stops and starts chatting with animals and plants like a damn disney princess, or how he randomly starts rambling about how some constellations don't look at all like the animals they're named after "Like, seriously, why did they name that one a lynx? That's obviously a snake hehehe"

But most importantly she loves how caring he is, how he's supportive and passionate about her interests just as much as she is, and how he makes her feel safe, and in turn she wants to protect him too.

I'm honestly debating with myself how I want Aster to go about the information he has known Asha all his life, like, I imagine he'd probably want to hide the fact because he didn't want to talk about the sad tragedy that led to her grandfather wishing upon him, yes Asha knows about the fire but he doesn't want to remind her and make her sad, because remember, at first he doesn't understand that sadness is just part of life.

But then like, would he pretend to not know her? Or would he be like a ghibli character and just nonchalantly say "Oh yeah, I’ve always known you" and never elaborate on that until the story demands it?

… Great, now I just had the idea of Aster functioning like Haku from Spirited Away, like they don't remember where he knows Asha from because he forgot what their previous wish was now that he’s granting a new one, let's say stars can only remember one wish at a time, then as he gets to know her better he starts to remember what his first wish was, and things start to make more sense.

I don’t know, like that’s cute but might be a bit too complicated, y’all tell me, I’m throwing ideas and seeing what makes sense, this whole thing is me asking for feedback after all.

Honestly I think the idea of Aster knowing Asha the whole time works because it not only gives a better explanation to why a star came down from the sky to help her, but also gives more sense to the lyrics “you still amaze me after all this time” in At All Cost.

Welp, I think that's all I got, thank you so much for following along with this series, and don't worry I'm not over yet, there are a few characters to talk about before I start sharing the actual script of this rewrite.

Thank You For Reading!

[dramaticallytotal]

"I'm Just An Assistant"

Another au where Noah was always an assistant instead of a competitor!

He had sent in his application as a dare from his sister Nisha, but his sister Neelima thought it was a job application and wanted to help him fill it out since the things he put as his skills weren't....work material. She thought Noah was just being nervous about filling out the resume since the last job he got was by total accident because he at six decided it was a good idea to hack a site he thought needed improvement. So Neelima put all the skills he had that she thought would be good for a job.

Turns out it wasn't a resume. It was an application for a reality TV show. Haha...Oops.

Well Noah wasn't mad, he tried and that was a lot more than he usually did so he counted it as a win until he got Chris McLean, former movie star and current reality TV host show up at his house. He had to take the "meeting" in his room because his grandma was, unfortunately, a fan of Chris's movies. Apparently, they were some of the first things she watched when they immigrated, and she was learning English. Once they were settled in his room (which he thankfully cleaned that day since his mom looked ready to smack him with the broom earlier that morning when she came in to tell him something and she almost tripped on one of his piles of books) Noah glared at the man and his...bodyguard?? The man was huge, but he was also wearing an apron and a chef hat, which kind of threw off the bodyguard guess.

"Well? I got the rejection letter, and I doubt you're the type of person to come do it in person as well without having a reason."

"Ooooo, snarky! Hear that Chef? The kids got snark."

"Are you surprised? I hardly hid who I was in the auditioned tape."

"Too true, dude. While we rejected you as a contestant, the resume-like portion of your application caught our attention. Or well, I guess I should say, my attention." Chris said in a tone that Noah guessed was supposed to garner gratefulness from him.

But something stuck out to him.

"Resume-like?"

"Yeah! I always carry copies of things. Here!"

Noah looked down to his application, and sure enough, part of it was filled out like a resume, and he immediately recognized Neelima's handwriting. He tried to explain that to Chris, but the dude was a stubborn ass! It took a lot of arguing, and Chris sweetening the pot for Noah to say yes to becoming Chris's personal assistant. Apparently, he recognized that Noah was way more qualified than an intern, so at least he was getting paid.

In the end, he got to stay in the fancy cabin with Chris and Chef, so he wasn't complaining (he may have complained a bit until he saw where the campers were staying). For the most part, he didn't interact with the campers except the rare occasions Chris needed him to get something for him before the cameras started rolling and he was in front of them. He stayed there at the campsite until things at Playa Des Losers started going to shit because the interns there apparently couldn't do their job, and some campers started fighting.

Chris got so frustrated he sent Noah to take care of things. Noah thought maybe it was a test of sorts, so he unfortunately had to put in effort. He was used to being in charge and delegating tasks, thanks to being his class president, and set about to do the same at the resort. Miraculously, the interns listened to him, and things started running smoothly. As for the campers, he decided they were in need of his wonderful self. Either to talk some sense into them or snark them for their choices.

He ends up making friends with the Eva girl, which is a surprise as he doesn't really have many friends. Then Izzy, which was a big surprise. Then the finale came, and he got to meet Owen, and somehow, they were fast friends.

Season two kicked off fast, and it was the season he unfortunately was seen by the viewers because Chris needed help with a challenge, and no intern was available, so it fell on him to pick up the slack. Apparently, the viewers liked him???? He doesn't know how, but Chris made him appear in front of the camera a lot more as a result.

Then season 3 was in full swing, thanks to the Dirtbags bait, which may or may not have been his idea. He had to appear on camera a lot more since he was somehow a fan favorite character. It was dumb but hey, he was getting paid. He at least got to interact with the contestants this season, which he was happy about, given he couldn't do it until people were eliminated season one and two. And he wasn't allowed to interact during the competition. This season, though, he got to as long as he didn't offer help or join an alliance. The perks of being a fan favorite, he guessed.

Heather and Duncan still tried to intimidate him for information, which he thought was stupid. Like, have they never met him??? Of course, it didn't work, and of course, he knew they wouldn't give up. He was happy he could talk more openly with Owen, Izzy, and Eva. He did talk to more people, but they were the ones he found himself talking with the most, which meant he was around the new competitor Alejandro a lot.

He knew what he was about. He sometimes had to watch the confessions as punishment for pranking Chris with Chef. So he knew how Alejandro worked. So why was the guy flirting with him???

Did he really think his moves would work on him and he would help him in the competition???

Pathetic.

Except the guy is really smart, and they have very interesting discussions and debates.

Sad.

Except the guy is ridiculously attractive and maybe sort of Noah's type.

Desperate.

Except the guy makes time to search out Noah every day and have chats with him. Whether it be something small like what Noah is reading to swearing to him that any flirting he sees is for the game.

Silly.

Except...Noah may be falling for him.

_______

Au, where Noah was always an assistant and Alejandro falls for said assistant like immediately. He sees the other competitors are familiar with him and decided to ask Courtney about him since Courtney is one of the only people on this plane who can hold a normal conversation.

"Sorry to disturb you, Courtney, but I was simply curious as to who that is beside Chris?"

"Hm? Oh, him. That's Noah, Chris's babysitter - oops, I mean personal assistant. Don't bother trying to get answers or hints from him. He's a snarky ass." (Courtney holds a grudge from past seasons. From Island because Noah threatened to sue her! Her! For "destruction of property." In Action because he was definitely playing up the demands she made after she came back. It painted a target on her back).

Alejandro with heart eyes already: "Oh."

[ultrakill-confessions]

Lowkey tho, I want the ultrakill to get involved in those cringe 2019 animation memes, like I barely see much of that fun stuff anymore.

I mean I still do at some rare occasion, but i enjoy the nostalgia. like where is my clarity meme that includes emo V1 and Gabriel 😔

oh well yk I'm probably just talking nonsense. haha

-

[pinazee]

Daredevils!

Overall, not one of my favorite episodes but by far my favorite ending because oh boy what a gut punch of feelings!

First, look at how he set this up. There is no way shawn thought this would work so he 100% knows these kids are only there to see him crash into this kid. Also, im guessing the actor for gus was unavailable, but i like to think hes not there because he knew Shawn always intended to crash into him.

Lol what are you talking about henry? He’s got like 9 years of life here and a third of it was in diapers. Stfu

This is random, but is this the only time we’ve seen the pinball machine? I dont recall it being in later eps. I’ll have to keep an eye out now.

So far my favorite pineapple reveal. Should i start playing find the pineapple?

Shawn can read lips ✅

Probably the dumbest thing Shawns ever done. also, I’m guessing Vancouver roof tops were out of the question, cause that green screen be working real hard haha

The first time i watched this show i was in middle school, so all of the references, went completely ignored by me. Now im picking up on references ive never heard before. Like who Aldo nova is.

Gemcitabine and capecitabine are actually pancreatic cancer treatments and they even showed it correctly (the one being an IV the other a tablet) so major kudos to psych for the attention to detail.

As for the lassie sideplot. Eh. I can see what Vick was trying to say, but at the same time, if Lassie is getting complaints because he’s throwing little tantrums then Vick should have handled it instead of telling Juliet to. Plus, Lassie is the type to respect authority, so it would’ve meant more if it had come from her anyways. Though, i do find it funny that Vick told her to handle it, and Jules’ interpretation of that was “i gotta find him a date,” when she probably meant like, beat the sense into him haha i will say though, i liked the resolution of Lassie going from i don’t need your help, to please, i need your help. I think thats good growth for him, but i think it was a little sloppy in the execution. I think it could’ve been better if lassie actually did get in trouble with Vick and Lassie had to work on not letting his personal life affect work as much and make that the focus. OR, if you wanted to keep the relationship stuff, you could forgo Vick getting involved at all and keep it simple. Jules feels bad for lassie getting rejected again and tries to set him up the whole episode, then when they have that bit with the prostitute, thats when he accepts her help (because again he has terrible instincts. Like, how did he make it this far as a cop. Truly astounding.)

Wait i have the answer to this! Let me check my notes:

By this point in the series- 6

NOW ABOUT THAT ENDING! Ohmygod! First of all, one of the rare Psych ep’s that doesnt have an actual murderer or even victim. They just got swept up into a poor dying mans attempt at suicide. I love that Shawn doesn’t tell anyone and is honoring his right to die. I think thats a very bold message to make on a cable show. But i also love that hes actually really nervous because he does want to convince him not to go through with it. and then after he left, Its one of the few occasions where we can actually see him questioning if he made the right decision. You can see how much he hopes his words resonated with him enough that it saves his life. Plus it was so smart to keep the camera on Shawn to watch his reaction. It kept you in that tense moment with him so you can feel the relief shawn has when he landed the trick. Such a great scene and possibly one of my favorites in the series.

P.S this is my favorite bit lol Gus is so much funnier to me this watch. I think the first time i watched Psych i pitied him a lot, so that anytime he looked kind of foolish i just felt bad for him haha but damn, Dulé is so freaking funny

[solomons-poison]

Miscommunications

Lucifer x reader

: ̗̀➛ A/N: Well it only took ages but I finally have a Luci fic finished </3 I don't usually like miscommunication as a trope but I do really like the idea of there being such a big mixup about what's going on until everyone goes "ohhhhh" with a happy ending. This is very self-comforting... Anyway enjoy~

: ̗̀➛ Warnings: implied fem reader; poor/lack of communication, mutual pining, confessions, reader is a little bit dumb haha, talk of anxiety and self-doubt, angst to fluff, first kisses 💋; barely proofread, just take it

: ̗̀➛ Word count: 5158

You never put much stock in finding the "tall, dark, and handsome" ideal in real life. Sure, there was the occasional person that somewhat fit these characteristics, but they never really caught your eye, somehow always being more generally attractive rather than truly attractive to you. But the moment your eyes landed on the Avatar of Pride, suddenly his face clicked into place in your little visual dictionary.

The demon was gorgeous, and he knew it. Long, lean body with broad shoulders and a slim waist, combined with his deep crimson eyes and dark hair streaked with gray; he was visually stunning to you, and certainly drew the eye of many an admirer wherever he went. You often found your gaze wandering to him when he was in the room, his presence alone sending your heart stuttering. It also didn't help that he knew exactly how to trip you up in other ways, the way he’d surprise you with a suggestive comment and the rumble of his deep voice making your heart pound for other reasons. He was particularly skilled in giving you the most brain-melting bedroom eyes you’d ever seen.

Besides his looks, he also knew how to act like a gentleman. You two had had your rough moments in the beginning, of course. You had quickly discovered his powerful anger and defensive nature, but you couldn't fault him for it when he was simply protecting his brothers. Once you broke through that shell, though, a loving, softer nature was apparent, one that enamored you and knew how to romance the hell out of you.

Unfortunately, that's what was tripping you up now. Ever since you'd gotten closer to Lucifer, the demon seemed to have some personal agenda out to charm you as much as possible. It started simple, giving you more compliments on your hard work than you thought necessary, paying attention to small details in your outfits, or bringing you little treats from his meetings with Diavolo. As time went on, the gifts increased in both number and value, as well as more time spent together. He would bring you more expensive or rare gifts such as perfume and limited-time baked goods from the Devildom's most popular bakeries. He began to invite you to the music room for what became weekly sessions of Demonus and a musical record, late at night when it was just the two of you. It was a rare moment where his walls came down and he openly talked with you about anything and everything, reminiscing on occasion about things his brothers would do in the Celestial Realm or passing on something funny that Diavolo had said. He even invited you to sit with him as he did his paperwork, the gentle sounds of pen scratching on paper filling the air when you couldn't think of what to say. It didn't matter that you had nothing to talk about, he assured you, he just enjoyed your company.

You couldn't begin to guess what you'd done to deserve this treatment, or how you managed to get so close to this powerful demon. Although you appreciated every gesture, it also left you nervous. It was almost inevitable that you developed feelings for Lucifer. Somewhere along the line, your respect for him and feeling of friendship had developed into deeper feelings, ones that made your chest ache and your heart beat faster when you thought of him. But you'd dealt with rejection before, and even worse, you'd been misled before, made to think someone liked you back only at your expense. Despite how close you'd gotten to Lucifer, you still couldn't tell what he was thinking sometimes, or how he felt. Perhaps he was only being nice, every gesture in good friendship simply for earning his and his brothers' trust. It also didn't help that your last relationship had ended after a long term, leaving you essentially new to the dating scene and completely out of your element. How were you supposed to move forward when you felt like you just essentially ended a marriage?

The final part that truly puzzled you was the "dates'' he would take you on. He seemed to dance around the word, always using some kind of synonym with you, which was why you were hesitant to label them as such yourself. Sometimes the “dates” were to restaurants, other times they were to the local shopping district. And when he took you out, he was always polite and the utmost gentleman, never touching you more than a guiding hand on the shoulder or upper back, pulling out your chair or pouring your drink, and conversation kept light and pleasant. Then, at the end, he always made sure to walk you to your door, thank you for indulging him, then give a satisfied smile before leaving for his own room. It was almost frustrating, trying to understand his intentions, and the last thing you wanted was to put a reason where there wasn't one, or overthink things that weren't actually happening.

But tonight, Lucifer had truly pulled out all the stops. He invited you to see a ballet in the Human World, La Bayadère, which in itself should have been a sign to you. The story was one of vengeance, justice, tragedy, but also fate and eternal love. Your doubts got the better of you, preventing you from fully absorbing the clues left around you. Perhaps if you’d thought longer on his choice of show, his true intentions would have been obvious to you, especially combined with what followed next.

Your heart almost stopped when he insisted on gifting you a fancy dress to wear to the occasion. It didn’t matter how much you complained that it was too much or that you could buy the dress on your own, the first-born wouldn’t stand for it. And for the icing on the cake, when he came to your door to fetch you, he gifted a bracelet that complemented the style and color of your dress, along with a bouquet of three roses. Although the number of roses seemed a little odd, you were too enamored by your companion’s looks to think more on the subject.

Lucifer himself was dressed in a gorgeous tuxedo, the lapels decorated with his signature peacock feathers, their rich blue and turquoise coloring setting off the redness of his irises. Another rose matching yours was placed in his breast pocket, and he'd also styled his hair a little differently, swept back out of his face. It was strange seeing him out of the usual fur-lined cloak and waistcoat, but certainly not in a bad way. You felt nervous being so dressed up, especially with someone as handsome as the demon beside you was, but a sweet smile lit up Lucifer's face as he took you all in, helping to ease your feelings a little.

As you two made your way to the ballet, finding your seats and settling in, you couldn't keep your eyes off of him, something he certainly didn't miss. To be honest, you were worried you'd be too distracted by his looks to watch the ballet. But as the show began, you thankfully got lost in the tragic yet romantic story, Lucifer leaning in occasionally to clarify parts of the story when you seemed confused, or telling you facts about the dancers themselves.

By the end, your mind was swirling, thinking of everything you'd seen and heard, reliving the evening for as long as you could. The two of you had arrived at the doorstep of the House of Lamentation faster than you would have liked, the outside lit up by the moonlight in the late hour. Neither of you could make a move to open the door beyond unlocking it, knowing the moment you did, all peace would likely be broken by the rambunctious brothers. And honestly, you didn't want to leave Lucifer's side just yet, wanted to find some reason to stay close to him like you were now, enjoy his presence and his attention a little longer. But you simply couldn't find a good excuse, at least not one that didn't make you feel needy and childish.

Little did you know that the tall demon beside you felt the same, though, his mind preparing his next words oh so carefully. For Lucifer felt the same, deep in love and trying so hard to figure out the words to make you stay by his side, to grace him with your presence for just a second longer.

He felt ridiculous sometimes, having lived for millennia yet these feelings made him feel young and inexperienced. It was embarrassing enough to have been found out by his colleagues so easily, Barbatos guessing his feelings in mere seconds when Lucifer had brought up the idea of the ballet in order to request the portal, and of course Diavolo instantly catching wind of the situation from his trusted butler.

Although he thought he was doing a good job of concealing his emotions from most others, his excitement over the date had given him away, something he never thought would happen. And now here he was, feeling the date was successful but lost on where to go from here, or better yet, how to make things progress. He hadn't spent all this time courting you the best way he knew how, just to fumble at the last second like an amateur.

Finally, Lucifer steeled his nerves and his eyes caught yours as he turned to look at you, admiring the way the moonlight lit up your features. There was a nervousness in your eyes that wasn’t there before, and it relieved him a little to know he wasn’t the only one affected by their nerves.

“Thank you for coming with me to the show, MC,” Lucifer said, a warm smile lighting up his face.

“Of course! Thank you for inviting me, it was amazing,” you gushed, a combination of nerves and excitement over the show causing you to speak faster than usual. “The story was so beautiful and sad, and I loved the music. I’m so glad we got to go.” It was impossible to keep the grin off your face, your cheeks hurting from smiling so much during the evening.

Lucifer couldn’t help but chuckle over your excitement.

“Good, I’m glad it was to your liking. That helps me decide on where some of our next outings should be. It certainly made for a very good end to this night.”

His implication made your cheeks warm. He wanted to go on more “outings” with you? Oh god. Was this a date? Did he see it as a date? Or were you overthinking things like usual, seeing something that wasn’t there? He probably just saw it as a fun time with a good friend, simply an enjoyable evening with someone whose companionship he tolerated, rather than some romantic venture. Of course he wouldn’t want to date someone like you, right?

As you had your silent breakdown, Lucifer pursed his lips for a moment before opening his mouth, taking one of your hands into his as a soft blush filled his cheeks.

“May I kiss you?”

You’d barely registered his touch on your hand before you realized Lucifer was speaking to you, the tall demon already leaning in a bit in preparation. A kiss? Of course you wanted him to kiss you, wanted to do that this whole time, if you were being honest. But as his query finally registered fully in your mind, registered what exactly that would mean, something snapped in your brain and you were reacting before you knew it.

As Lucifer’s face drew closer, a gasp tore out of you, all your nerves suddenly firing at once.

"NO!!!"

The sound echoed in the air– it came from you, you realized belatedly– as you snatched your hand back from his.

The force of your outburst caused you both to freeze, and your hand automatically came up to cover your mouth as you simply looked at each other in stunned silence. That certainly wasn't what you'd intended, but the damage was done. Lucifer looked shaken, obviously taken by surprise by such a forceful rejection. As he started to open his mouth, you couldn’t help yourself, the urge to flee the scene taking over all your senses.

“I— I’m sorry!” you exclaimed, before yanking the front door open and running inside.

“No, wait, I— MC! MC!!” he yelled after you, starting to follow you into the foyer. But you continued into the house and up the steps, not even turning back to look at him as you moved out of sight, leaving Lucifer to simply watch you vanish.

Lucifer couldn’t help but lean back against the wall by the front door, looking in the direction you’d run, and a sharp ache filled his chest as he absorbed what had just happened.

Your loud “no” was ringing in his ears, shaking him to his core. To be honest, despite being known for his pride, he knew rejection was always a possibility. Many things were predictable in his life; he could often predict the actions of his brothers: when Mammon would pull another money-scheming stunt, or when Satan would try to pull some kind of curse-prank on him, or even Leviathan’s freak outs over his video games and idol events. Hell, he could often predict the actions of Diavolo, as unpredictable as the Young Lord could be sometimes. But humans seemed to be a different sport all together, as you always left him guessing. Still, it surprised him just how much your rejection hurt.

It was also just the adamancy of your rejection. He could expect to be turned down, but to that degree? He knew he’d made a mistake, that it probably seemed like he’d expected a kiss from you, and he was fully prepared to formally apologize to you later for it. But for you to yell like that, when you never even raised your voice to his brothers before… had he been misreading the situation the whole time?

He forced himself to get up and make his way to his room, eager to get out of his suit and make some tea to calm his nerves. But he couldn’t help but linger on the thought that it boiled down to: you didn't love him back. Why else would you have shut him down so clearly? He had thought he'd been making progress in courting you, had thought you'd even been receptive to it. He'd never felt more like an idiot.

A week passed, and Lucifer still didn't get the opportunity to apologize to you or confront you. You kept communication to the bare minimum, short sentences or one-word answers where possible. If you two ended up alone together, you ran off as soon as you could. You'd even missed your weekly session of music and drinks, and it was telling when Lucifer didn't text you to check on you. You could tell your avoidance of him was hurting him, a resigned sadness lingering in his eyes anytime you saw him. You knew it was childish to keep avoiding the issue, but what were you supposed to do?

The others could tell something was up. It was obvious in the way they suddenly ceased most of their troublesome behavior, cautious in the way they approached either of you and otherwise left you to your own devices. Even Diavolo and Barbatos suspected something, sending separate messages inquiring if Lucifer was okay and if something happened, and you didn't know how to respond except requesting to give some time to explain later.

While Lucifer believed you declined the kiss on account of rejecting his advances— not that you knew this— the truth was that you were nervous. Nervous about exposing your feelings and becoming vulnerable, and nervous about realizing Lucifer may actually share your feelings, or at the very least sought something more than just a casual friendship. The realization completely hit you without warning when he'd asked to kiss you, and you'd reacted poorly because of it, unprepared to face your fears.

You needed to come clean to him, apologize for your outburst and be honest about why you'd run away. But the anxiety and the "what-ifs" filled your mind and overtook your reasoning. It haunted you to think that he may still reject you in the end, treat you like a toy or a joke like people have done in the past. Or what if this ruined your friendship? You'd spent so long earning his trust and gaining this level of friendship, so what if it was lost forever?

You couldn't help but sigh as you realized avoiding him now was ruining your friendship already.

It was too much to think of currently, and as you got ready for bed, you decided to head to the kitchen for a glass of water, something cool and refreshing to distract you for a moment. You turned the corner to go into the room but stopped in your tracks as you saw none other than Lucifer already standing at the counter, tending to a steaming tea cup. Your heart hurt just looking at him, and you immediately turned, hoping to get away before he saw you. But Lucifer's sensitive hearing picked up on your steps, and he instantly looked over in your direction.

He called your name, and your body stopped on its own, as if on command, to the sweet call of his voice. Your fight or flight response was itching to activate, and you did your best to ignore it. It was now or never, you couldn't keep running away. But damn if it wasn't so nerve-wracking to think about.

Steeling yourself, you slowly looked back at Lucifer. It was evident on his face that he was relieved you decided not to run away, at least not yet.

"MC, I apologize–" "I'm so sorry!!"

You both stopped, not expecting an apology from the other. Before Lucifer could continue, the words just burst out of you in a rush,

"I'm so sorry for the other night, I didn't mean to yell at you like that. I just wasn't expecting a kiss and it caught me off guard, but that's not your fault and I'm so sorry for yelling at you," you said, struggling to breathe at the end.

Lucifer shook his head, placing a rare uncovered hand to his chest in an act of sincerity.

"You have nothing to apologize for, MC," he said. "It is entirely my fault. It was my understanding Human World dates often ended with a kiss, but I shouldn't have assumed anything and checked with you first that you wanted as such. Instead, I made you uncomfortable with my assumption, and for that, I deeply apologize and hope you can forgive me." He bowed forward, the very image of chivalry.

“Oh, no, that wasn’t–” Date. Of course he would choose to use that word now. It echoed around in your brain for a moment before you could formulate a sentence, desperately trying to piece together the puzzle between you two and make sense of things. "Wait, ‘date’? Was this a date?"

Lucifer looked up from his bow, his brows furrowing together in mutual confusion.

"Uh, yes," he said slowly. "At least, that was my intention."

All you could do was blink owlishly at him.

"What— But. You never called it a date before."

Lucifer thought back on the times he'd invited you out and realized that may have been true. Perhaps he'd been self-consciously avoiding the term, to lower the chance of outright rejection? He never was the best at being direct when it came to you, and now it was all backfiring on him. Despite his age and his experiences, he still found himself acting like some young teenager around you. 

"For that, I apologize again. I should have been more transparent about my intentions, then," he said, a feeling of embarrassment creeping up on him that he tried to suppress. One thing still didn't make sense to him, and he wanted to address it while his wits were about him. "I do have to ask, have you not seen.. any of our outings as dates? Including the ballet?"

"Well… no, you never seemed to use that word and I thought maybe you were just being nice." Heat was filling the entirety of your face, your voice shrinking in on itself as you responded. Your feet had never felt so restless before, eager to run you straight out of the room.

Lucifer couldn't help it as his eyebrows quirked up. "Even when I brought you the bracelet and the roses?"

"N-no."

You never wanted to crawl into a hole more than you did now, especially as you heard a deep sigh across from you. You couldn’t even look at him.

"This will be the last of it that I bring up, and then I won't bother you anymore, but… was there a reason you didn't see them as dates? Were they not to your liking? Or perhaps… it’s me you don’t like?”

Your head was shaking before you knew it, vehement denial on your face, and your gaze snapped back to his.

“No, that’s not— I was just nervous!” you exclaimed. “The dates were fine, honestly! I actually really liked them!”

“So then why–”

“Because you’re hot, okay?!” you blurted out, the words now rushing out of you like a dam burst open. “I haven’t been asked on a date in years, so I got nervous, and I’ve been pranked before, and I didn’t want to get my hopes up and get hurt again or make things weird with you–” You realized too late you were rambling, your mouth snapping shut as you realized in horror what exactly you were saying, but there it was. All you could do now was wait on a response.

Lucifer couldn’t help it, a burst of pride erupted in his chest that you thought he was hot, and he had to stop himself from smiling like an idiot. More importantly, he caught the other part of your ramble. His protective side rose up immediately, angry at the thought that others deliberately tricked you with something so shallow, hurting you to the point that you had to doubt yourself and others on their true feelings. No one deserved such treatment, and he couldn’t help how defensive he got when it came to you.

He tentatively took a step forward and, not seeing you prepared to run, slowly drew closer to you.

“I’m sorry that people have been so awful to you in the past,” he said. “The people that did that were undeserving of your attention and your affections, I hope you know that. It was cruel what they did to you, and you never deserved that.”

You could feel your eyes start to burn, vision blurring slightly, but you fought the urge to cry in order to listen to him. The rational part of your brain knew he was right, knew that you hadn’t done anything to warrant being used and mocked like that. But your anxiety still ate at you, used those experiences to sour your expectations.

He took your hand, and when you didn’t take it back, his heart thrilled a little. What he was planning was a gamble, but he hoped it would be worth it as he took a deep breath and continued speaking. “Words cannot describe the influence you’ve had on my life since I’ve met you. You’ve had an incredible impact on my brothers and myself, helping us reconnect in a way that I feared was lost long ago. You've been reckless and fearless in your decisions, to the point that I’ve worried about your sanity.” His lips curved up when you pouted at him. “But that same recklessness and fearlessness may be what saved my family, and saved me. I don't think I will ever meet another human that affects me the way you do."

He gave you a moment to absorb his words, watching the gears turning in your head.

"I can understand now why you've had reason to doubt me," Lucifer continued. "But I promise to you that everything I have done, and everything I feel, is sincere. I will do whatever it takes to assure you of that."

"I-I believe you," you replied meekly. Your hand felt warm in his, but the presence was comforting. Maybe, just maybe, you could afford yourself this vulnerability. Lucifer's thumb began to rub across your knuckles, slowly at first, like he wasn't sure, but continued as you watched.

Lucifer couldn't help but smile, seeing you come around. He wasn't sure what he would have done if you'd run from him again, if his pride could have taken that, but now that he had you, he needed to seal the deal in the hopes that you'd stay for good. As he rubbed soft circles in your skin, he began the final move to secure you, just a few steps to take, really, but massive in scale, his racing heartbeat waiting to expose just how nervous he was.

The first step.

"Do you remember the number of roses I had brought you the other night?" he asked.

The question caught you off guard, the number of roses? You thought for a moment.

“Um. You brought me three of them, I think?” Lucifer smiled immediately, pleased about that. “Why?”

The second step.

Lucifer drew your hand up to his lips, pressing a single soft kiss to your fingers now. The action caused heat to spread in your chest, and you struggled to avoid staring at his lips as you anticipated another kiss, already distracted from the question you had asked.

“Do you know what three roses means, in the language of flowers?” he asked.

You couldn’t muster any words, simply shaking your head in response.

This time, a soft kiss pressed to the top of your hand, raising goosebumps on your arm. Lucifer’s eyes met yours, and the warmth and love in them took your breath away.

The third step.

“It means, ‘I love you’.”

“...Oh.”

The sound left your mouth before you could stop it, wobblier than you’d like. Those three powerful words sent goosebumps all throughout your body, your eyes widening and your mind going blank. Your brain was too busy short-circuiting to respond appropriately, your words temporarily lost to you. But Lucifer was okay with waiting for you to recover; he’d always wait for you.

His next kiss fell over your wrist before he leaned up, leveling himself with you. One of his hands holding yours intertwined with your fingers, and his other hand came up to cup your cheek, his thumb stroking the skin gently.

The final step.

"May I ask if you return my feelings?"

You couldn't catch your breath, simply nodding your answer before realizing the poor demon was owed a better response than that.

“I do. I love you, too,” you replied, a grin working its way onto your face.

You wish your voice wasn’t so weak as you said it, but it made Lucifer smile regardless, a relieved sigh escaping him as his eyes briefly shut. The demon wasn’t even aware of the tension in his body up until that moment, and his shoulders relaxed, feeling like a weight had left him. He opened his eyes again to look at you once more.

“Now that we are, perhaps, on the same page, would it be alright if I kissed you?”

This time, a nod was suitable. Lucifer leaned forward, but hesitated just a moment before his lips could touch yours. Although your earlier rejection had been cleared up, hell you’d even accepted and returned his feelings, Lucifer’s wounded pride was still healing and making him second guess things. And you knew this, knew this mix-up was mostly your fault. And if you didn’t get to kiss Lucifer now, you’d always regret it.

You closed the gap before your anxiety could tell you to do otherwise and pressed your lips to his. Butterflies erupted in your stomach, but you stayed strong and were quickly rewarded as Lucifer relaxed against you and leaned into the kiss. After a moment, you prepared to pull away, but clearly your new lover's hesitation was gone as he pulled you back in, deepening the kiss and setting a fire in your belly. If you could have melted in his arms, you would have.

When Lucifer was finally finished with you– only because you really needed to breathe– your legs felt like jello, making you hold onto his body for support, and you couldn't help the giggle that came out. A product of your nerves, you supposed. But your sweet demon didn't mind, supporting you in his arms for as long as you needed. If the soft blush on his cheeks was any indication, he was much in the same position as you, anyway.

One of your hands was still in his, Lucifer’s fingers rubbing over your knuckles again softly. It was almost like he was memorizing the feel of your skin on his, as if he was afraid it would leave, before he stopped and looked at you. Never in a hundred years did you think you'd be here, in the arms of a demon and so deeply in love. Funny how life works.

“So, you think I’m hot, do you?”

Lucifer's question broke the comfortable silence, the demon watching you with a smirk on his face like the cat that got the cream. You clicked your teeth at him, pouting. Of course he’d pick up on that part of your panicked explanation.

“I knew I shouldn’t have said that,” you said, your face burning in embarrassment. Warm fingers gently took your jaw, tilting your head up to face Lucifer.

"Don’t be like that. I'm always happy to hear your honest opinion, my darling," he said, the pet name not helping your racing heart, and especially not the quick kiss he pressed to your lips as he held you there.

“I’m going back to bed if you’re just going to tease me,” you joked, starting to pull away. Truthfully, you were also a little unprepared for just how much sweeter Lucifer was being, the way he looked at you and casually slipping in a pet name being a fatal combination on your mental health. Bedtime seemed a good enough excuse to give your heart a little time to recuperate. But before you could make much progress, strong arms suddenly wrapped around you from behind, keeping you captive once more, and it was impossible to suppress the shiver in your body as warm breath touched the edge of your ear.

“Oh, love, you’re sorely mistaken if you think I’m letting you go anytime soon.”

You’re not sure your heart could take much more.

As always, reblogs and comments are appreciated! 💜

[shakespearefreak]

CW: mental health issues, self-esteem issues, mental hospitalization mention, mentions of weight/dieting

I don’t wear makeup in daily life. I generally like how I look when I see myself in the mirror. But I am deeply uncomfortable being on a video call without makeup; something about the way the camera captures certain things like redness or shininess of skin really bothers me, to the point that I cannot focus on what I or anyone else is saying when I’m seeing my bare face mirrored back at me on a screen. 

I’m in an American Girl book club through a Facebook AG group; we “meet” once a month on a video call to discuss various American Girl books. Many of the people in Book Club saw me in person without makeup at a live meetup last summer, and that doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is me seeing it, not anyone else. So I put on makeup on the evening of the last Tuesday of every month, even though usually it makes me super late to the actual meeting I’m wearing it for.

The thing is, I remember a time in my life where I wouldn’t want to be seen without makeup, ever. I missed whole class periods in high school because I was fixing my eyes or my lips or whatever. I had a lot of trouble (and in fact never got around to graduating) because of this. I was hospitalized for severe OCD, and they made me go cold turkey on the makeup and accessories. For years, I didn’t allow myself to put on even a little bit of makeup other than for theater or cosplay, because I was so worried about being pulled back into that spiral. I finally began to enjoy makeup, and view it as a fun hobby I could do on rare occasions rather than an obligation. But Book Club changed that; it started feeling like a necessary chore again, at least once a month.

I finally got around to reading the Smart Girl’s Guide to Body Image book last month. Some of you may recall that this book got some serious backlash over showing trans and nonbinary gender identities. When it became clear that the book would probably be pulled, I bought a copy right away (because I wanted to read it, and also to show AG that supporting trans youth could appeal to customers as well, not just push them away), but then it just sat on my shelf for a couple years. When I finally read it, I am not exaggerating when I say it felt like therapy. The reassurance, repeated many times, that all bodies are good bodies; the reminder that diets usually result in weight gain, not loss, and that weight doesn’t equate to health; the fact that for once, I didn’t have to change the pronouns in my head for these statements to apply to me personally… yeah, it was really important to me.

But what struck me most of all was the section on makeup: the book acknowledged that “experimenting with makeup, jewelry, nail polish, and hairstyles is a great way to discover your unique style” and that makeup can simply be fun, like any other kind of art, but had the important reminder that “It’s all optional. Makeup, nail polish, and fancy hairstyles are never required for going to school, hanging out with friends, or leaving the house. Your body has the right to exist in the world with or without decorations.” I decided that I needed to go to April’s Book Club meeting without any makeup.

I was so worried, even more so because now I’d look different than usual on video (I dreaded the idea someone would ask if I was sick, and I’d have to explain that no, this is just how I look, you’ve just never seen it before because I was concealing it). I tried to bargain with myself (“I can only put on some of my usual makeup” or “I’m not allowed to spend more than __ minutes on it”). I tried to talk myself into putting it off until this month. I wasted time to delay joining the meeting. Ultimately, I knew it was going to be uncomfortable for me at first, even very uncomfortable, but if I didn’t face it (no pun intended, haha) now, I might never, and I couldn’t let myself slip any further back into that old mindset. So I joined the meeting, sans makeup, and no one commented on it. I don’t know if anyone even noticed a difference. After a few minutes, I barely noticed a difference in my own face on the screen. It was like, “Oh, wow, I’ve been putting in all this extra effort for over a year, and it turns out that it barely mattered at all.” The sense of relief was inexpressible.

So yeah. I guess I just wanted to say how grateful I am to this book, and that I cannot recommend it enough if you can get your hands on a copy.

[techno-phone-4]

do you have any headcanons for the funny phon 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Yes indeedy!!!!!!!!

Pretty long so under the cut haha……..

First and foremost my design for him!!

- His bag is for going out adventuring into the woods with 3GS or going into town. In the bag is obviously snacks, but also he loves collecting trinkets and cool things he finds while out and about!! Rocks, wrappers, Chronic hoarder for sure. He has a rock collection from every time he and 3GS go out, and they’re planning on making a room for the collection soon or else it’ll take over their bedroom..

- loves stickers which is why he has some on his front, like I said he’s a collector of lots of things, one of them being stickers which leads into my next hc ..

- SCRAPBOOKINGGGG he scrapbooksssss. He started back in s3 in the Polaroid ep when he realized he wanted to keep them in a safe place. He loves the chaos of mixed media and crafting and doodling in the pages of his scrapbooks. It’s also a good outlet for feelings.

- him and 3GS wear matching bracelets and have similar bandaids, they know the bandaids don’t do anything but they like being boo-boo buddies

- REALLY loves music so he self-installed an antennae to pick up radiostations!!

- on that note he makes so many playlists like bro im talking a playlist a day, a playlist for every season of the year, a playlist for every emotion, you get my drift..

- he tinkers and invents little gizmos. thingamabobs. they dont do anything. kinda just crappy figets lol. its kinda how he stims!

- to supply that hoarder in mephone, him and 3GS go out thrifting sometimes!! About once every two months. It’s where he usually gets the stuff to tinker with and his scrapbooking supplies

- very scared of the dark. back at meeple hq the stars on his roof would glow in the dark, and he uses those little orb light thingies from the nickel/balloon/bot elimination as nightlights! Another thing that helps him sleep is at least 3-4 stuffies in the bed (3gs also likes stuffies)

- him and 3gs live in a little cave and have built a little shack in it like marceline's house in adventure time! they have family dinners and have bunkbeds teehee

- Lovesssss videogames!! His favorites are Sonic because he loves the characters and relates to sonic, and Minecraft because he loves sandbox games where you can build your own worlds, he loves the freedom of it, same case for games like little big planet and scribblenauts!!!

- 3GS plays guitar and sings with lyrics written by mephone. Kinda have an acoustic version of Jack Stauber where the songs are really short and don’t really have any meaning, but on rare occasions they do! In that case they have more of an Alex g sound to them.

- Still draws, but also writes now too!! He loves making up little stories, and it also helps him cope with the loss of his generation ability. I feel like it was touched on perfectly in the finale that mephone not having the ability to generate anything will be a big adjustment, as hinted at by him snapping to summon one of his portals. He’s had this power his whole life and I feel like it’s the perfect metaphor for the life he’s leaving behind and the pros and cons of leaving said life.

- Speaking of writing his biggest muse is the shimmers and 3GS. He loves writing self insert high fantasy or sci-fo stories with characters heavily based on them.

- He considers the shimmers, ballpointpen, and 3GS his family. He keeps in touch with the shimmers via FaceTime calls, and is PENpals with ballpoint pen.

- Loves puns he’s so corny oh god he makes so many puns but ESPECIALLY around those he loves extra hehehaha..

- Loves blue rasberry things ANYTHING blue rasberry is not safe from him.

- Keeping the food motif going, he bakes!!!! He’s not good at it. But he’s getting better! His favorite thing to make is obviously cookies, but he invented a secret recipe for cookies that use blueberries instead of chocolate chips and they’re delicioussss and it’s basically the only thing he can make that actually tastes good so he makes them like once a week LMAO

- Him and 3GS are each others therapists since they share a lot of their mental experiences and struggles. They both have pretty bad ptsd when they first move in together which was the motivation to live together in the first place. They both knew they wouldn’t be able to make it on their own. Mephone struggles with ocd, mostly the impulsive thoughts side of it, and for a long while actually struggled heavily with suicidal thoughts (as hinted at during karma waits when he considers attempting on the clif. At least that’s how I interpreted that scene.) 3GS ptsd takes the form of schizophrenia. Them living together basically guaranteed that they would always have someone in the house in case anything ever happened. Both of their conditions weren’t strong enough to warrant real therapy or medication, plus they both agreed that it just wouldn’t really be for them, but they still needed very heavy support, so them living together worked out perfectly and they’d be happy to say after about 2-ish years that they now barely struggle with their conditions if at all.

- They’re pretty sure the cave will be their forever home and don’t see either of themselves moving out any time soon. (Half of the reason is because they don’t have to pay taxes because they literally live in a shack in a cave, so they only have to worry about buying food LMFAOOO)

- After living MIA for so long, the thought of returning to the spotlight in front of the camera just isn’t for him, HOWEVER!!! That doesn’t mean he lost his passion for tv entirely!! Mephone’s love for reality shows and tv in general is a core part of his personality in canon and I just can’t see any world where he would completely cut all ties with his love for tv. When him and 3GS finally decide to reenter society, mephone joins a local indie director/tech club!! For the first time he has friends. Organic ones. Real people (objects?) who have real flaws and personalities that by one way or another led them to the same place he’s in. He becomes very close with the club and they all go out for lunch at least 1-2 times a week, usually after club meetings and then on weekends, and he loves them so much. He keeps his infatuation with the tv industry, but has come to love the behind the scenes and prefers to stay out of the spotlight. He basically becomes a producer/co-director, and started to mentor up-and-coming directors/hosts/people who also want to make big tv shows like he once did. He doesn’t think he’ll ever make another show again, as he’s happy where he is in life and considers inanimate insanity a finished symphony, his magnum opus.

- Besides joining the tv/directing club, obviously mans’ has to make money. he loves seeing himself in people just starting out in the industry, and loves working with those with the same passion he had, so he became a volunteer at a local college to youngsters with a passion for tv/film! He teaches things mostly related to directing and producing media.

- Bonus to the reentering of society, 3GS ends up basically just taking up odd jobs wherever he can, basically just offers general services to anyone who’ll take his help. Bro kinda just turned his love for helping into a job. (Basically just that one cartoon “cupcake and Dino” you should check it out it’s real cute)

Sorry some of these mention 3GS but I love him and 4’s dynam sm and I hc that they’re pretty much connected at the hip outside of work and social life hehe.

[deltablazin]

(GOD i wish i could draw-)

I thought of this Amazing Digital Circus OC, I call him Gallahad.

He's based off of traditional classic video games, like ocarina of time, final fantasy, stuff like that with quests, monsters, heroes and whatnot.

He regards himself as the self proclaimed "hero" of the circus, defender of the helpless, (because no one is crazy enough to take that gig.) and to be fair, he DOES have the power to back it up, using video game moves like sword fighting, items, magic, stuff like that, he bends to the laws of video games where he can keep insane stuff in a inventory space, never ACTUALLY die and just reload back to a save (he can get abstracted though..) and special moves to help him do stuff, he does have the cons though, like clipping into stuff, he can save whenever he wants, but it doesn't effect time, for instance, if he dies, and something happens, that will STILL happen while he isn't present, loading really just loads himself back to the last place he was, he has to deal with an annoying beeping sound when at low health, funny little stuff like that.

Pomni: ..I'm sorry, who are you again?

Gallahad: I..am GALLAHAD! At your service!

I am the UNDISPUTED hero of the digital circus!

Jax: Mostly because no one else is crazy enough to do it.

Gallahad: I-

Gah, JAX!! I'M DOING A THING HERE!!!

Pomni: (Oh, so he's one of those guys..)

(Then, soon enough she sees that he wasn't messing around when he steps in immediately and protects Ragatha from Kaufmo.)

Gallahad is male (he/him), sexuality: straight.

Gallahad is one for the dramatics, getting in the character of a great hero of a legend that he made up, sometimes it can be kinda annoying to the others though, but he is a nice guy, usually checking on the others, and willing to do "quests" as he calls it for them, which is usually just little errands.

Gallahad: Kinger, are you injured!?

Kinger: Uhhh..a bit broken, yeah...

Gallahad: waitasecond.. Here, it's an ultra elixr.

-Kinger drinks it and is fully healed!-

Kinger: Woo, thanks!

Pomni: You..just have those on you?

Gallahad: ..Uh, yeah. And?

Zooble: Why didn't you use one when your arm broke earlier?

Gallahad: BeCAUSE, they don't sell ultra elixrs at SHOPS, and I only have 99999 of them! THINK, man! Ugh...

His character design has some low poly to it like a PS1 character, with a similar style to this:

He has a vintage 1990's video game filter to his voice, which he can turn off at will.

Gallahad sometimes wears a dark purple hero tunic, something like Link's, often he wears a full suit of bulky knight armor in a very dark navy like blue

He has short blond hair and striking silver eyes (not blind, just cool), and he has a skin tone like Link's.

He likes wearing masks sometimes without armor, cuz he can get nervous and bashful or scared, and he doesn't like people seeing that (even if it is obvious through how he talks) but he can go around with his face usually

He can get upset when his adventures don't go as he invisioned, not upset in a "this dude has issues" way, but in a comical "haha he's upset" way

Even when some might be annoyed by his heroic role he gives himself, Ragatha finds it charming, plus it makes him happy.

Speaking of which, he showed up in the circus a while after Ragatha did and got the hang of her life there.

His hobbies include grinding for expirence points doing "quests", earning achivements, having epic duels, laughing triumpantly, solving traditional game puzzles, training Pomni... (when she's up for it, which is rare)

And just chilling in his room playing video games for hours.

He gets along relatively with everyone.

Jax and him butt heads on occasion, but neither of them hate one another, just a fun getting on each other's nerves thing.

Gangle is a friend of his, cuz she can kinda get his whole thing, he introduces her to games based off of her animes sometimes.

His relationship with Zooble is

Gallahad: -bursts into Zooble's room as his epic theme plays- ZOOBLE! JOIN ME FOR A GLORIOUS QUEST!!!

Zooble: Get out.

Gallahad: ok. -leaves-

They appreciate that he doesn't pry though

He tries to offer advice and encouragement to Pomni, even if he doesn't really get her situation sometimes, Gallahad sees more potential in Pomni than she does in herself!

He's genuinely impressed by Kinger and thinks he's cool for surviving for so long.

He's the closest to Ragatha, cuz she's fully accepting of his whole hero thing, and she seriously helped him through some rough problems he had in the past.

Gallahad genuinely found Kaufmo to be a funny and cool guy, so...you can imagine him getting abstracted being hard on him, even if he didn't show it.

Gallahad's fine with Caine, sometimes comes to him about funny little bugs he has with his skills for him to fix, usually the most excited to do a new thing, but he doesn't entirely agree with him

Like seeing Gummigoo just get poofed away would piss him off.

Gallahad is like your typical 100% game player, meaning he's VERY powerful, he's straight up like a character in a video game with every collectible and maxed out stats.

Though his OPness is more of a detriment to him sometimes, like wanting to enjoy a boss battle but beating the boss in one hit.

He doesn't get most moments to show off his power properly anyways, and he can't even DAMAGE abstracted people.

His backstory...

Gary was an average man. With an average, boring life, in his 20s.

He always regretted not doing more crazy shit in his life, but never had the opportunity.

One day, he found his chance, to escape his boring life, and well...

He awoke a new man in The Amazing Digital Circus.

It was a long while after Ragatha joined when he arrived there.

The moment he realized the world he was in, he ran through it like CRAZY, doing extraordinary things, completing quests, defeating foes, getting stronger and stronger, having fun...

...All alone.

He never bothered interracting with anyone that wasn't an NPC, he never felt a need to.

But...at the height of his lonely glory, he...felt deprived of something.

He could never figure out what it was...

...What could it be?

To any normal person, it would have been obvious.

But Gallahad..he had no idea.

Desperately, DESPERATELY he tried to figure it out, trying to figure out just what it was, what he lacked..

It gnawed at his soul..until it began to hurt.

His hand became black as soot, it felt numb weightless, shapeless, and this black numbness was slowly rising up his body.

He did not know at the time, but...

He was getting abstracted.

He frantically went out, searching for anyone, calling for help.

And, someone answered.

It was Ragatha.

He didn't show her what was happening, because he didn't want to scare anyone, it was in a moment of weakness that he called out, but..

They started talking, he found himself opening his heart to her, finally..interacting with someone that wasn't some npc he talked to for a reward.

And before he knew it, the darkness on his body was gone.

Since then he realized what it meant to be around people, so he often tried to make sure that everyone was okay.

He was always doing his knight thing but by then he started embodying the spirit of a hero, caring about his fellow members of the circus, wanting to help them and be their friend.

Gallahad long since decided that, were he to ever escape the circus, he would STILL be the way he is now, execpt not, you know, video game like, but he would be adventurous, caring, helpful, and MAKE the life he wants to live, even changing his name to Gallahad, within the circus, he found himself.

If anyone wants to draw him, i'd be honored, just give me proper credit, okay?

[kame-writes]

Concerning the media overlords au:

First of all: I love it! Thank you for sharing the idea with us <33

Second: Does Alastor live in the tower with the other Vees? And does Alastor still move into the hotel? If yes, on a scale of one to absolutely how sad/pissed/jealous is Vox after receiving this info?

3. I'd like to imagine Velvette's fingers are constantly itching to get ahold of that handsome deer man, who doesn't know how to dress himself properly or trendy, and give his wardrobe an upgrade. Could you imagine this happening? (Maybe with lots of alcohol involved. So that he would at least temporarily let her experiment with his clothes. Bonus points if she is able to take picture too. Vox would obviously make himself some copies for.. private reasons...) Do you see my vision?? Can you see it??

4. Can Vox convince Alastor to do more audio features within their network? Like podcasts or interviews and the like? Or are they just screams as well? (I recently discovered a podcast about cooking, where each week they talk about one ingredient and explain a recipe with it. I think this would fit Alastor's preferences very well.. tho the ingredients might not be as commonly used now that I think about it... anyhow... now I can't stop thinking about Hannibal and Alastor hosting a food podcast.. oops.. sorry, but not really)

5. You mentioned that Husk still works in his casino, if he isn't needed. Do you have any headcanons for Niffty's whereabouts?

Anyway that's all for now! Have a lovely day/night! <33

p.s. Sorry if this ask is intrusive. For some questions it's pretty clear that I've already imagined something for myself that may or may not fit with your vision of this au. If you feel like I overstepped, feel free to ignore this or send me an alastor_fuck_u. gif :D

Im am very happy to have questions asked! You have no idea how many ideas i have and dont know what to do with xD

I'd love to see other peoples headcanons and ideas for this universe, if anyone does anything for it then please tag me so i can see ^^

This is gonna get long so I've put it under a read more

2: No one is really sure if he lives there or just works there. He HAS his own suite in the tower, but he's not always there when they go look for him, and not being able to find him is very a common occurrence, made more frustrating because he refuses to carry or awnser the mobile phone they forced on him. He hangs around in the common areas like the kitchen and living room sometimes. And if they do manage to rope him into something like a movie night its a huge hassle, because he will insist on a black and white or silent film if he HAS to engage with the tv, and Vel and Val hate those.

The whole top of the Tower is dominated by his large Radio tower though, its slightly seperated from the rest of the building, suspended above it with a staircase/ladder to enter the hatch. Valentino is usually not brave enough to check there for Alastor.

Its the same with the hotel. He does move into his own room there, but goes back and forth a lot, and doesnt have a schedule. Vox tires to pretend hes fine with it at first but often ends up the hotel to be a pain in the ass to Charlie, and getting kicked out by the staff of Alastor. Hes convinced himself that Alastor will lose interest sooner rather than later, and the others just tune out his whining at this point. No one buys it when he claims he didnt even notice Alastor was gone as soon as the Radio Demon gets back to the tower.

3: I may be planning to draw this haha He does let her dress him up ocassionally, he has a few differant suits he's approved of and kept, but does wear his original the most the time. Velvette has a line of 'Vintage chic' clothing that partly started as a way to get Alastor to agree to changing his 'ratty ass old man style' by appealing to clothes that were updated takes on his era. He still very rarely leaves the tower in anything but his own usual attire.

He does on rare occasions allow photos to be taken of him by the vees (and once, later on by charlie, under strict instructions that she keeps it to herself) but no video. And none under any circumstances are allowed on social media. He has blown up a few phones that have attempted, both the Vees and employees.

4: Alastor has agreed to be on a podcast a few times, but its rare, and only if its somehting hes really interested in talking about. It's one of the few modern things he approves of since its just a version of a radio talk show. Same with interviews, he keeps them even more extremly rare, and the mystery of the radio Demon keeps sinners in fear more than him being in the public. Vox always wants him to do more since the ratings sky rocket when Alastor features.

When Alastor has done an interview it is with his back to the camera, and sitting in a large wingbacked stupidly over the top ornate chair, that hides him from being seen, except maybe the top tuffs of his ears and antlers. And he doesnt reveal much about himself when he does. The chair is partly to hide him, and partly to stop the equitment form glitching too much. He likes to pulls faces and makes gestures deliberatly made to make Vox falter and look stupid on camera, since hes the only one who can see him in that chair.

He has teased on his own radio show that one 'lucky' sinner may get the chance to be on both a guest star on his radio broadcast AND a livestream if the mood takes. Valentino had to inform him that what he's referring to is called a snuff film

5: Niffty gets moved to the hotel pretty much full time once Alastor gets involved, Husk is a part time employee, but ends up spending less time at his casino as time goes on.

Valentino is happy Niffty is gone because she creeps him out, she ocassionally hung around his studio during work hours, especially if theyre doing a scene with 'bad boys'. Vox isn't bothered. Velvette is not happy, especially that Niffty is reduced to a maid/janitor for the hotel, and makes that very known to Alastor. Velvette loves Niffty, they are chaos sisters and work on very sketchy sounding potions together, and gang up against the boys.

Niffty is also a great seamstress herself and brings her designs to Velvette like an excited child showing off their latest art project. Almost none of these get used, but Vel has fun forcing models to parade around the studio and work in something Nifftys made, they often include bugs and bodyparts, Velvette finds this halarious.

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

I'd be curious to see kiss 47 out of spite for Curtis and honey

Haha, I tried my best! It's hard to imagine what these two would fight about, usually, they are so easygoing with one another.

You grumble to yourself. "Stupid stubborn idiot man." Your hands plunged in soapy water, scrubbing at one of the dishes from Curtis's lunch box and yours.

It wasn't often you and Curtis fought. Almost never, but once in a while one of you were just in a mood and snip at each other. This happened to be one of those rare occasions where you two bickered till a full out argument exploded.

He retreated to his garage where you could hear the loud clang of metal on metal and his music drowning out everything else. "Any louder and you're gonna blow out your fucking eardrums." You shout, not expecting him to hear.

But suddenly heavy boots thumped into the hallway leading from the garage to the kitchen, his eyes narrowed at you standing at the kitchen sink, elbow deep in sudsy water. "What did you say?"

"That you're gonna blow your ear drums out." You retort, turning back to the sink to scrub another dish.

"No, before that." He stalked over, his presence suddenly a very overwhelming sense behind you. Your breath caught in your throat as your gaze lifted to the kitchen window, his reflection a slight blur right behind you. Why did you have to taunt him? Your traiterous mind reprimanded you, your heart picking up speed.

How would he react? This was Curtis, he wouldn't do anything, but their was still that sensation that he could, he might, and how would you really stop him. "Repeat it." He said cooly, his hands twisting you till you were facing him, water and soap dripping onto the floor between you two.

That look on his face started you back up. Sure you loved him, but sometimes, like right now, he could infuriate you. You certainly didn't know how to bite your tongue right now. "Stupid. Stubborn. Idiot. Man." You annuciated every word.

If you were gonna pay for it, might as well do it right.

His eyes snapped and he clicked his tongue like he was processing what you said. "That's what I thought you said." You were waiting, ready for whatever was coming next.

Or so you thought.

He pulled you in suddenly, his lips catching yours and laying the most panty devastating kiss on you. You didn't even stand a chance at how his tongue drew out the moans and your body slacked into his, like you no longer had control. Your sudsy hands braced against his chest, soaking his tee. "What does this say about you Pretty Girl? Your'e dating said stupid stubborn idiot man." He nipped at your lips while you gasped for air.

Your gaze narrowed at him, seeing that he was quite amused at your reaction. "Smartass." You pushed him away slightly, in a now playful way although you were still mad at him. His expression turned triumphant, while he circled you back in, dragging you away from the sink.

"Guilty." He hummed, still quite pleased with himself while you simmered at him. "You still mad at me?" He swayed you with him, your body moving to a slow dance that he often did with you in the kitchen. You didn't even have to pay attention to the movements anymore.

"Just cause you kiss me till my brain goes stupid doesn't mean I'm not still upset with you."

"Well I can't have that Honey." He sighed, tilting you back and letting his chin bristle up along your collar bone. "What if I finish up the kitchen and we can resume our disagreement tomorrow?"

You rolled your eyes at his proposal, the anger slowly starting to seep out of you. "You can help me and then we can talk about it before bed?"

"I promise to listen to what you have to say." Curtis pressed a gentler affectionate kiss to your temple.

"And I won't try to talk over you." You compromised, giving him a little smile of forgiveness. "I can't believe you came in and kissed me like that when you were all pissed off."

Curtis scoffs, both of you going to the sink. You back to the dishes and he started mopping the soapy water off the floor. "What else was I supposed to do?! You were driving me crazy between being mad at you and wanting to pin you up against the counter to have my way with you."

[atefingersdagger]

Very curious about your wedding headcanons! We only get to see D4’s traditions and a little bit of D12, so I want to hear your ideas for the others (D2 especially haha)

thank you!!!

Okay, so I actually have talked extensively about District 2 weddings in the sequel to my main series (Of the Fitest, which is on ao3), and it's the only district I've thought about deeply in terms of wedding headcanons. I'll go into them here!

District 2 weddings are one of the only, if not singular, exceptions to socially acceptable public displays of affection (this plays a role in Cato and Clove having to play up their dynamic for cameras). Traditions include the vows and officiating.

However, what makes them stand out is pebbles! Instead of a flower girl and the petals being laid ahead of the bride, people lay pebbles down own the walk way as the bride and groom exit the building. Many people even see collecting those pebbles as good luck for their own loves, or will save them for their own or their family members' weddings. It's a symbol of stability.

Here's an exerpt from Of the Fitest (doesn't spoil the story):

"The exception to the rule would be wedding ceremonies, a type of event she’s been to a few times for family members or family friends. Traditions require the usual vows and officiating before pebbles are placed behind the couple as they walk upon the aisle. It’s common for people to collect tiny rocks throughout their lives for the occasion. Some pick them up after for good luck, pocketing them once the partying portion begins. Clove picked off plenty from the aisles as a kid, the little things of all different colors and sizes still in a small pouch in her bedroom."

Another District 2 wedding headcanon is that people will carve names or initials into rocks and leave them out in the world as another form of good luck- symbolizing their love in something that is harder to destroy than flesh. Sometimes, those rocks will be placed in areas only the couple know or the place where they met.

One of the other traditions in 2 is a lesser one or mainly phased out in the years of Clove and Cato; blood mixing. The old "slice the hand open and hold hands," adage. It's not common as many people don't want blood on their wedding garments. However, some still do it.

Here's another exerpt from Of the Fitest (spoiler free!) that explains:

"There’s plenty of different traditions for marriages in 2. Once the couple gets their papers filled, they may celebrate how they wish. There’s the pebbles down the isle, the slicing of hands and mixing blood – that’s a rare one if the bride is wearing white – some carve their names in delicate rocks, either to keep or to throw back into nature as good luck. Traditions were always arbitrary to her, and..."

Funny enough, in the last chapter of my main series I completed, Clove talks with someone about District 2 weddings. She thinks about how bridesmaids aren't a big thing, although they are there at many weddings. Usually, it's just a maid of honor or a few others. She also thinks of having bouquets of knives.

One District 2 wedding headcanon that is recent so not mentioned in my fanfics (yet) is the flowers used often being Gladiolus. A flower that is named after the Latin term for sword (very District 2) and is also known as a "sword lily" for its shape. They aren't native to America, but they were grown in Panem regardless, and their seeds carried on.

I headcanon District 2's music as being full of hurdy gurdys, lyres, and flutes. Very medieval-esq music and some viking-like traditions in addition (as I like to compare 2 to vikings as much as ancient Romans), and those intrustments would be used at the celebrations!

I think goats milk would also be drank during celebrations as Sejanus Plinth mentioned in tbosas that goats milk reminds him of 2, implying that it was a popular drink there.

For other districts; I imagine District 8 would have a new cloth woven for the bride that is placed over her shoulders to symbolize protection and comfort in the marriage as they are the textile district.

I think 12, 4, and 2 are districts we know about the most via the novels, so it's much easier to think of headcanons that are built upon the characteristics of the preexisting cultures. I have a small headcanon that District 1 will make beautiful necklaces for the bride and groom. As of the other districts, I need to think on more, but since I'm so focused on Clove, it's all District 2, baby!

Thank you so, so much for asking cause I get to yap and word vomit all of this useless info into one place and wrap it up in a nice bow!

[i-cant-stop-fandoming-help]

The Embrace of a Weeping Willow

Prologue: Part 4

Warning for talks of religion.

Feedback is appreciated!

Kinjo had slowed down to match Yuki’s speed a while ago. It was quite delightful, in all honesty– Yuki didn’t know if it was because he was tired or if he was just being kind, but either way, it was nice. “Kinjo,” he spoke in a curious yet quiet voice, similar to the one he had been using the entire time– just lacking the nervousness now. “What’d you think of those last two? The siblings. They weren’t like each other at all…”

“They didn’t share a last name.” Came the near immediate answer, “Nor do they look similar. Maybe they’re half siblings, maybe one is adopted– it was curious nonetheless.”

The ginger fidgeted with the sleeves of his brown jacket and let his eyelids droop. “You’re right… I didn’t really pay attention to it. Kisaragi was really energetic– so much so that I got overwhelmed, I guess? I’m not sure how you were able to handle it, haha…!”

Kinjo shrugged his shoulders and peered at the other from the corner of his eye. His red eyes, a crimson that could be compared to rubies or blood, were now soft. Kind of like rose petals… Yeesh, how long had he been asleep in that garden? Plants were getting to his head now.

“I’m used to loud people. Criminals,” The word had his glare turn fierce for a moment, with his upper lip curling into a sneer alongside it, “are loud. They think that if they talk a lot of nonsense, and that if they’re the loudest person in the room, then we’ll give up and let them go. That I’ll give up.”

His leather gloves tightened as he curled his fingers into fists. The gentleness had vanished, replaced with pure and utter hatred. “There is a reason,” he spat in a venomous voice, his snake-like fangs bared, “that I am an ultimate.”

Yuki was scared– he was scared. Sure, he’d only known Kinjo for a bit– an hour at most– but he hadn’t quite seen this intense hatred from him before; the most he had heard was a gruff voice. “Kinjo–” he squeaked as he stopped walking, now digging his nails into the fabric of his own jacket, “... please calm down…!”

He did not dare touch the other. Not when he knew the other had a weapon, as well as more muscle than he did. He did not dare say anything more to the cop’s rambling, afraid to speak his mind about how scary it was. Thankfully, Kinjo listened to his plea and took a few deep breaths in. In the moment where the police officer had his eyes closed, Yuki tried to focus on anything he could– and found himself examining the features of the other’s face.

His jaw was tight and square, his lower lip had a cut on it, and the bridge of his nose was a bit crooked– likely from being broken, if Yuki had to guess. But he didn’t look bad, far from it, even. Kinjo was, admittedly, a handsome man.

“Kurokawa,” Kinjo spoke once more, moving back to the conversation about the siblings, “was a bit taller than her brother. I don’t know if she was wearing heels, but she appeared to be about two-three centimeters taller; and that’s for if I had to guess.”

Yuki perked up at the observation, accidentally meeting Kinjo’s half-opened eyes in the process. “You could really tell that much? I didn’t even notice that. That’s impressive!”

The officer tore his ruby eyes from staring at the ginger. “I’ve been trained. If, on the rare occasion, a criminal manages to get away in a chase, I need to be able to guess their approximate height and weight so we can put out a message asking citizens to be on the lookout.”

He moved to reach for something on his belt, but pulled his hand away when the area he tapped at had nothing attached. “It’s rare for me to need to do such a thing, because I typically have access to my car– so I can catch them in time. But when I’m chasing on foot, there are sometimes people faster than myself. And I don’t have the paintballs at hand to stain them with, like we would a car.”

Yuki would have to ask about the paintball thing later. Currently, he was just fascinated with all the knowledge Kinjo had in regards to his job– the most Yuki knew about his own was making coffee. They never had him do much else.

Again, there was talking nearby. It was even more energetic than Maki and Taira’s conversation; One voice was loud and chirpy, like a bird, another was heavily accented and full of life, and a third was smooth yet outspoken.

“Satsuki is SO EXCITED TO BE AT HOPE'S PEAK!!” Exclaimed the chirpy one. When Yuki peered the corner briefly, he saw a flash of white gloves and blue hair. “SHE’S GONNA BECOME THE BESTEST CLOWN EVER!!! OF ALL TIME!!!”

“YA NEARLY HIT ME IN THA HEAD WITH A PLATE!” shouted the accented voice in retort. It was soon followed by a squeal of terror, and then the sound of a plate hitting the wall.

“OOPSIES!!” giggled the bird, “That was an accident! Satsuki wanted to show that she wouldn’t do it again!”

The outspoken voice was just snorting and laughing. Oh, god, not again… Yuki wouldn’t be able to handle even more energy…

“Looks like there’s more.” Kinjo said, pointing out the obvious. Withouting waiting for the lucky student, he stepped forward and moved into sight of the newest discoveries. When Yuki followed, his gaze fell upon a pink and blue clown, a man wearing an aviator hat with goggles, and a man with a rather ugly hairstyle.

The two bickering, who had been the clown and the green-haired man, both fell silent as their star-filled gazes fell onto the new duo. The third, the man with the aviator hat, cracked a slow and crooked grin and waved. “Yo!”

“Um…” Yuki spoke first this time, much to Kinjo’s surprise. “Yo..?”

The aviator marched forward and grabbed Yuki’s hand forcefully. He was beginning to get tired of that… “You gotta say it with more energy! YO!”

Before Yuki could speak, however, the golden-blonde paused, looked down, and let go of the ginger’s hand. “Dude. Your hands are soft.”

The clown gasped and flung her arms up into the air after the announcement was made. “SATSUKI WANTS TO FEEL THEM, TOO!!”

“Excuse me.” Kinjo finally said as he moved an arm to push Yuki a few steps back. “I am Officer Kinjo Tsurugi, from the Ishikawa Prefecture Police Force. I am also… The ultimate Police officer. Who are you three?”

The lucky student was, for once, glad that Kinjo had a commanding voice. It forced the attention away from his hands. They weren’t soft– that was dumb. And made him feel insecure.

“Satsuki’s the ultimate clown! Iranami Satsuki!~” She made a ‘V’ with her fingers and stuck them out. If it were possible, there probably would’ve been sparkles and stars shining around her. She was that bright. “And Torimart is a merchant! And Kobazing is a pilot!”

“‘Torimart…?’” Yuki mumbled with squinted eyes, “‘Kobazing…?’” What kind of names were those…?

The Aviator cleared his throat and stared at Kinjo with sparkling eyes– They weren’t shining in a way similar to Iranami’s. Moreso, they were the eyes of a troublemaker. “Ultimate Pilot; Kobashikawa Haruhiko, it’s nice to meet you!” 

The name sparked a bit of recognition in the ginger’s mind. Something about a plane test flight…? He couldn’t remember all of the details, and seemingly, neither could Kinjo. 

“As for you?” The officer’s gaze turned onto the last one– the strangest looking of the bunch. 

“Mah name’s Otori Teruya! Tha ultima’e merchant! ‘S a pleasure tah meetcha!” His accent made some words sound strange, but they were still comprehensible. Somewhat. But what was his dialect…?

Kinjo’s jaw was tight as he examined the rowdy bunch. Unlike with the siblings, Yuki could easily tell their heights. Well, not guess them– but he could see who was taller and who was shorter. Kobashikawa was the tallest of the trio, whilst Otori was the shortest.

Oh. As he was thinking, Otori’s name clicked. “Oh–! As in Otorimart, right? I mean, with the name and your talent…”

Iranami butted in here, waving her extended hands away as she beeped. When the beeping ended, she spoke… somewhat properly. “BING BONG!! DING DING DING!!”

Otori smacked his hand over her mouth and shushed her with his cheeks slightly puffed out. Then, he turned back to Yuki. “Yeah! Ahm the ‘eir for it! Mah pops taught me e’erything i needa know! I know how tah work tha register, how tha layout of products can affect sales, how–”

“Good to know.” Kinjo interrupted, his upper lip tugged into a half snarl of frustration. Maybe he didn’t like being stuck in one place for too long? Yuki didn’t, either. And he had seen pictures of Hope’s peak’s layout, which didn’t match that of this building’s… but they’d probably find their way out.

“Maeda, my companion,” the officer continued as he gestured towards the ginger, “is the ultimate lucky student; full name Maeda Yuki.”

“Soft hands guy!” Iranami cheered like a child. “Mae-mae! Hmmm…. Mae-yu?” 

“Do you three know anything about this place?” the officer pressed on, ignoring the childish squeal from the clown as she took off one of her gloves and grappled Yuki’s hands. “Have you seen anyone else, or have you heard anything suspicious?”

“Uhh..” The pilot brought his hand up to pinch his chin, with his lower lip stuck out in thought. “Well, a bit ago, we saw a chick with pink hair, and one with black hair. Uhhh… the black-haired one was shorter and faster. The pink-haired one was whining.”

Internally, Yuki cringed at the usage of the word “chick.” On the outside, he was focused on trying to wriggle his hands away from Iranami.

“I see. Those two are likely to be Tomori and Hatano,” Kinjo said, his jaw still tight, “Hatano is the one with black hair, full name Hatano Ayame. Tomori, full name Tomori Kizuna, is the one with pink hair.”

“Ah!” Otori slammed his fist against his open palm. “Tha’s good ta know! Ah think ah heard abou’ em before! Maybe on tha news? Or from listenin’ in on a customer? Or maybe ah jus’ remembered more from tha roster than ah remember!”

Finally chipping in, and finally having freed his hands from the clown’s grasp, Yuki’s voice was soft. Maybe even timid. “Hatano’s the ultimate sprinter, and, er… Tomori’s the ultimate cheerleader.”

Kobashikawa gave him a weird look. And then, like he forgot conversational etiquette, he spoke. “Dude, you need to speak louder. Man up!”

If it were possible, Kinjo’s jaw probably would’ve tightened more. It didn’t, though. Instead, he brought his hand up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Maeda’s manner of speaking is fine. I can hear him well enough, and you should be able to, as well.”

“Yeaaah! What Copman said!” Iranami began to chew Kobashikawa out playfully, much to both his and Yuki’s dismay. Otori was laughing, though.

Kinjo’s ruby gaze flitted between each member of the trio, resting on each of them with a bit more suspicion than before. Then he closed his eyes and forced his jaw to relax. “I will be taking my leave, now that I know who you are. Perhaps I’ll come back to… converse later. But I need to continue my investigation. Maeda, you may accompany me if you wish, as you’ve shown you’re not much of a risk to have at any crime scene.”

Yuki nodded at his words and began shuffling to follow him. Anything to get away from people who seemed to comment on every little thing about him with no remorse– they didn’t seem malicious, just dumb. “Um… I’ll talk to you three later, maybe!”

–

They had been walking for quite a while again. Of course, there were short breaks caught in between, where Kinjo pulled a flask from his belt and offered some water to Yuki. The container used silver for the metal, albeit darker, and was wrapped with leather to provide a tighter grip. In a somewhat smeared sharpie atop the brown leather were Kinjo’s initials, alongside his phone number for returning. It was… smart, but couldn’t he just buy another flask if this one got lost? And then he noticed a different ink color below the smeared sharpie– purple and just barely even there. It looked like the only reason it was remaining was because it had stained. He could only make out one part of what the purple ink said, and it was an “S” written in messy kanji.

He opened his mouth to ask about it, but no words came out as he thought better. Perhaps this was a family heirloom, that’d make sense why there was smudged ink of a different color. It’d be rude to ask if it was, wouldn’t it…? Ah, he wasn’t sure.

“Maeda. What have you thought of everyone we’ve met so far?” The question felt like it’d be a save point used in video games. It was loaded, but Kinjo’s voice didn’t sound like it had when he was interrogating everyone else. Perhaps a genuine question?

“Well, um… Tomori made me uncomfortable. I didn’t really like how she gave me a nickname right away. But Hatano seemed nice. I liked how calm she was.” He was listing his thoughts in order of who had appeared, albeit completely unintentional. “Inori was nice as well, and I’d like to get to know her more. Yamaguchi seems like a gentle giant, so I’m hoping we can be friends.”

HIs timid nature seemed to fade away as he got more comfortable talking to Kinjo. All the cop did was “hm” and nod along to each word, with the rare “i see” caught in between.

“I didn’t know what to make of Maki. She seems decent enough, but her outfit choices could be better. Then again, I don’t know what I’d expect a sniper to wear around in her free time. Oh, and Taira was fun to talk to! She seems motherly, kind of? I know we didn’t get to talk much,” He was forced to take a deep breath as he went on, “but she seemed motherly. Maybe I was misreading her, though. I hope I can talk to her more soon.”

“And then there’s the siblings! Kurokawa seems like she’s probably smart, but I really wish she would speak louder. I had to strain to hear her. But maybe being quiet is why she was able to hear things her brother couldn’t? Speaking of, I felt bad for Kisaragi when you were chewing him out. But he should also know better than to say things like what he did. He had an interesting appearance, though. Not to say he looked bad! Just… He was clean shaven on his face, but there was hair on his arms. You don’t really see that often.”

His throat had begun to get sore from all the talking, so he took another swig of the water from Kinjo’s flask. It tasted… pointy. It was cold, pointy, and refreshing. But you could also kind of taste the metal. 

“And for those last three. They all seemed socially dumb. Iranami was loud, to the point it hurt my ears, and she grabbed my hands without asking. I didn’t like it much. Kobashikawa did the same, which is kind of why she did it. And I didn’t really like the comments he made about me needing to say things louder or with more force. I guess he was probably trying to help, but it just made me self conscious.  Otori seemed decent, but his accent… er… dialect? Made him hard to understand at points. I couldn’t tell where the accent was from, either. At first, I thought it was Australian, but then it became American, and then it became Scottish… It was strange. Oh, and they didn’t ask how you knew they were ultimates. That was also strange.”

“Mmmhmmm…” Whilst Yuki was distracted with his rambling, Kinjo’s fingers had nimbly worked to remove the flask from his grasp. And then he hesitantly took a swig himself, allowing his lips to meet where the lucky student’s had been a heartbeat before.

“Sorry, I was rambling. I’m done now, though.” the ginger finally said as he brought one hand up to massage his own throat. He’d probably need a throat sweet later.

The officer attached his flask to his belt again before casting a curious glance towards Yuki. He hadn’t mentioned his first opinions on the cop, so Kinjo was rather intrigued on what the answer to that possible question may be. But he wouldn’t force the lucky student into telling him if he was scary or not.

He had slowed his pace to match the ginger’s so they could exchange words better. He began to explain small things about his job, such as the usage of paintballs, as well as how his taser worked. He didn’t take out the weapon to show, obviously, as there was no point to send the electrically charged wires out. It’d be a bit of a waste, actually.

Since Kinjo had allowed Yuki to yap on about his opinions on others, he allowed him to talk about his job. It was only fair, after all. At one point, he could’ve sworn he heard Kinjo say “it’s an eye for an eye,” but when he had looked over, the other’s face bore no sign of aggression or bitterness. Maybe he had been hearing things.

Each bit of new information made the lucky student’s head spin. It was great to learn more sometimes, but it was becoming overwhelming. So he took on Kinjo’s earlier method of humming and nodding to each sentence.

As Kinjo rambled on, Yuki found himself focusing on two new voices. Two more people. Kinjo hadn’t noticed yet, much to the ginger’s bafflement and delight, so he grabbed the other’s arm and waited for him to falter before quietly pointing out the voices.

“The book says to love others as you love yourself, does it not, Uehara?” Spoke a brash yet feminine voice. What book was she speaking of? “That line about loving your neighbor as you love yourself… It’s been preached to me more often than I care to count.”

An androgynous and monotone voice spoke next. “Yes. I am quite familiar with those verses. It’s used multiple times in the bible, with somewhat different wording each time. It can be seen in the books of Leviticus, Mark, and Matthew. If you wish, I can give you the exact spots in which they can be found.”

Oh. It was about religion. That… wasn’t very common. As Yuki held Kinjo back by his arm, fascinated by the conversation, he noticed another small detail– there was a bit of an Italian accent to the androgynous voice. 

The person with the brash voice must’ve gestured for the androgynous one to continue, or something, as they continued on. “Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:28-34, Matthew 22:39. Back onto the original conversation of how religion can harm people, despite that quote being used so often… Hm. Anything can be used as an excuse to harm. I have always tried to avoid causing damage to anyone inside and outside of my beliefs, but I’m sure I have made mistakes here and there.”

“The issue comes,” ‘Uehara’ continued, “when words are taken from the lord’s mouth and twisted in such vile ways as to cause harm. It is blasphemous.”

“Yes,” mused the feminine voice, “I can see why it is blasphemous. I’ve read parts of the book throughout my life. And I will only ever see it as a book. But I remember parts about love and respect, the whole flowery and happy-go-lucky bunch. And there are parts I remember that conflict with more venomous parts, and yet the conflicting verses are often forgotten in favor of the poison. I’ve had my fair share of religious students, and quite a few have told me horrendous things that they’ve gotten from that book of theirs. It’s–”

Kinjo grunted impatiently and wriggled free of Yuki’s grasp. It wasn’t hard, considering the lack of muscle on the ginger. His grunting was loud enough to end the conversation between the two new voices, much to Yuki’s disappointment, but Kinjo didn’t seem to care; seeing as he marched forward to interrupt further.

After a bit, the lucky student followed.

There were two people, as expected. One had long and curly orange hair, as well as golden eyes. At least, Yuki thought they were golden– they looked orange at some angles. Maybe they were amber…? The other had white hair and sapphire eyes. Their white hair reached the bottom of their neck, but went no further. 

“Oh.” Said the one with white hair– they were the one with the androgynous voice. Their appearance fit the earlier conversation about religion; A white undershirt, a black suit jacket, plain black pants, and plain black shoes. Rested above their chest was a cross, attached to the thin metal of a necklace, and it was matched by the white scarf they wore… which. Also had crosses. Lotta crosses. In their hand, they held a bible at their side. 

The ginger crossed her arms over her chest. She wore glasses, unlike every other person they had met, as well as a blue suit. Er, was suit the right term? It used a skirt instead of pants, after all. Either way, it did look like a suit aside from that. Her shoes were red mary-janes, a rather common shoe type, but they still gave her a professional look. She looked smart.

“Kinjo Tsurugi, officer from the Ishikawa Prefecture Police Force.” Yuki’s companion said sharply, continuing the same old pattern of flashing his badge. Surely he must be getting tired of it. “My companion is Maeda Yuki. Who are you two?”

The ginger flicked her hair with her wrist, sending each strand up into the air gracefully, before she smiled smugly. “Oh, I’m familiar with you both– I read the roster. Ultimate policeman and ultimate lucky student. A madman's talent and an incompetent’s talent.”

Already, Yuki wasn’t a fan of her.

“Well, I suppose I’ll return the favor of introduction.” She laughed into her hand, which had moved to her mouth, and stared at them with an expression that made Yuki feel insecure. “Mekaru Rei, the ultimate professor. Don’t disappoint.”

She didn’t introduce her companion, which allowed them to speak for themselves. “I am Uehara Kinji, the ultimate priest– please forgive me if I mess up on the pronunciation of words, I am not quite used to speaking Japanese again.”

Uehara Kinji… Well, Kinji was a masculine name, so that must mean Uehara was a man? Right? Just in case, he waited for further clarification.

“Priestboy and I,” Mekaru said, confirming Maeda’s beliefs, “were having a rather nice conversation, Officer. I’d appreciate it if you let us get back to it.”

The way she said the officer sounded as though she was mocking Kinjo, and the bluenette seemed to pick up on this, too. Blessing Mekaru, however, there was a loud beeping followed by a strange voice.

“Is this thing working finally? Sorry. Please make your way to the dining hall! There should be maps appearing nearby. There will be food prepared for you, students of class 79!”

The group exchanged wary glances with each other before Kinjo made the first move. There was suspicion on his face again, more intense than when he had been interrogating everyone, and it seemed as though it wouldn’t be fading anytime soon. Yuki could only sprint to follow.

—

The dining room, as promised, bore food. There were rice balls, different types of sushi, some soup, pot stickers, and even some dumplings. Yuki’d never admit it if asked, but he was tempted to hog all of the pot stickers to himself. Sadly, Maki showed up before he could do that and snagged a few for herself. He settled for just taking 5. 

He found a seat next to Taira, where they conversed a bit further. Apparently, she had run into Inori and Yamaguchi, as well as Hatano and Tomori. She had split up with Maki after meeting with Hatano and Tomori, as Maki wanted to spend more time talking with the cheerleader. So she and Hatano had ended up finding their ways to the dining room together, and agreed to train together whenever they had the chance. Yuki was a bit surprised to find out Taira was athletic, but… he supposed it wasn’t that shocking, considering she must need some kind of strength for her job.

“Goodness, it’s rather nice to not have to prepare food for once… Getting fed and not having to do anything for it? It feels like a dream…” As if to accentuate this, she brought a dumpling to her mouth and allowed her entire expression to melt from the taste alone. Yuki could do nothing but giggle.

Around him, many different people were conversing with each other. Higa and Kobashikawa were talking about sports, Kurokawa was quietly eating her food as Otori and Kisaragi bonded over their jobs as family heirs, and Kinjo was talking to Yamaguchi about a recent case.

It was nice.

Of course, all nice things must be interrupted. You can never be happy for too long. Everyone must experience misery at some point.

Kurokawa seemed suddenly alert and was now tugging at one of the strap’s on her brother’s overalls, who went quiet. Then he said something to Otori, who also quieted down. Bit by bit, one end of the table went completely quiet, allowing for some purring to echo throughout the air. And then a cat jumped onto the table.

It was a little black-and-white kitty, whom looked to be wearing a little bowtie. It had golden eyes… er, actually, one singular golden eye. The other was red and infected from a scar.

“Pardon me.” The cat seemed to say. Even when Yuki did a double take, it still seemed to be speaking. “I am very sorry for interrupting your meal and bonding time.”

Next to him, he could hear Taira whispering. “Is… is that cat speaking…?”

Thank god it wasn’t just him who was hearing things. The cat made sure to avoid each bit of food as it trotted to the center of the table, just so It could be heard better by each side. “I am mono-meow. I will be your host during this game.”

Kinjo’s dominant hand had moved to his belt. Yuki could only hope he wasn’t as cruel as to shoot an animal.

“Game?” Iranami chirped, grains of rice caught around her mouth. “Satsuki likes games! What kind of game?”

The cat’s movements were robotic as it turned its head to stare at her. After letting silence hang in the air, longer than Yuki felt comfortable with, its mouth moved again.

“A killing game.”

–PROLOGUE: END—

---

End notes: This is what Monomeow looks like link

also i am not religious, i just researched religion and talked to a religious friend for Kinji and Rei's conversation.

[madcatdaderpydrawer-blog]

Okay so I just got ENLIGHTENED with a sudden idea. I need you to hear me out on this because I've never made a Dandy's World OC and this would be my uhhh. First attempt.

So one of my special interests is dinosaurs, and I've been bouncing around ideas in my head for a lil while - mostly getting stuck on the design, name, and twisted concept. I always figured they'd represent determination and honesty.

So, I present the first concept: Fritz the Fukuiraptor.

Still unsure about design, but they're a toon-ified fukuiraptor (a type of megaraptoran, from the dromaeosauridae family!) that's sort-of friends with Shelly. It's not exactly a bad friendship, it's just a lot of enthusiasm on Shelly's end and a bit less from Fritz. They're fond of her, though!

They're meant to teach children about determination and, above all, honesty. Fritz can come off as blunt on occasion, but they mean well, and if something they say hurts a friends feelings then they'll always apologize.

Fritz uses they/them, and if asked about gender will probably give some reply like "I think that's what I ate for lunch yesterday, haha!" - it's not that they lack one (they're a girl, for what it's worth), they simply don't understand it.

They're on good terms with Shelly, Finn, Gigi, Glisten, Flutter, Scraps, and Goob. Everyone else they're fond of but aren't exactly friends with. They think Shrimpo is funny.

Gameplay-wise, Fritz would serve as a survivalist/emergency distractor/support (technically.) High movement speed and stealth, subpar stamina (better at burst sprinting) and subpar extraction speed that can be eased with the use of trinkets.

Their passive ability, "Never Give Up!", allows nearby toons to continue sprinting even once they've run out of stamina. The radius for their passive is similar to Astro's/Tisha's abilities and requires them to maintain close radius to said toon(s). Their high stealth and movement speed helps them with this ability, though their low stamina can sometimes result in them being placed into danger once their teammate gets away. Best to be careful!

And .. now for the twisted concept!

Fritz is a rare twisted with a unique gimmick that makes them stand out. They wander the map slowly similarly to Glisten, but they aren't passive, just completely blind. This is where a fun little icon I noticed comes in: the sprinting indicator.

See the lil sprinting icon? Now it finally has a use beyond telling you when you're obviously sprinting! This now serves as a lil reminder that you're making too much noise.

You can walk as close as you want to Fritz, so long as you're not sprinting, and they won't acknowledge you at all. The moment you start to sprint, however, they'll make a full beeline at incredible speeds towards the source of the sound. If you stop sprinting, they'll continue their path towards where they last heard a sound.

They can still be triggered by airhorns/failed skillchecks, however, as these produce noise! Best be careful when they're nearby!

So uhhh .. that's about it. First attempt at making a proper DW OC, and I figured if anyone would want to hear about it you would hehe. Sorry for the absolute paragraphs of ramblings but uhhh. Let me know what you think! I'll definitely make a design for them at some point later.

Honestly I’ve been fighting the urge to share my dandys world oc with you so I take this absolutely has invitation to ramble as well.

As for the oc they seem rather cool! I never thought of applying the run icon to show you’re making too much noise. I also have a twisted who’s blind, Charley, and he also is attracted to sound. This beautiful little specimen.

I talk about this guy so much. In the show he was made to be like an assistant of Astro that was helped him manage other toons dreams, and who has a very brotherly relationship with him though it’s not outright stated that they are family. A stuffed animal brought to life with magic who’s experiencing what it’s like out in the normal world with the other toons